As forecasters predict snow this week in the Highlands, The Highland Council has published on its web site route maps setting out its snow clearing and gritting priorities for local roads.
Eight leaflets outline the Council's route and footpath priorities and provide advice and contact numbers for motorists. Each leaflet provides a map of the area showing the gritting priorities of local roads. Area maps are provided for Caithness and North Sutherland; South Sutherland and Easter Ross; Skye and Lochalsh; and Badenoch and Strathspey leaflets. A leaflet for Wester Ross and the Black Isle provides maps of the gritting priorities of the two respective areas. Leaflets for Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber provide both area and town maps of gritting priorities for Inverness city, Nairn and Fort William.
Councillor John Laing, Chairman of The Highland Council's TEC Services Committee urged people in the Highlands to find out how this may affect them in the winter months to come. He said: "The Council is ready for any expected cold weather and we have plenty of grit supplies. Highland has the longest road network of any council in Scotland and it's simply not possible to treat every road at the same time so we have to prioritise which routes are treated first.
"We have produced leaflets for each area of the Highlands which have maps showing the priorities that roads in each area will receive and when people can expect to see their local roads gritted. Hopefully this will help people to be able to plan their journeys according to local weather circumstances.
"The timings of the route priorities are weather-dependent. Last winter, repeated snow falls and hard frosts meant that Priority 1 routes had to be repeatedly cleared which made it difficult to meet the timescales for priority 2, 3 and 4 routes. Motorists should remember that black roads don't necessarily mean clear roads and in severe weather conditions if your journey isn't absolutely necessary don't make it."
Copies of the leaflets and other useful information and advice on coping with winter are now available on the Council's website at: www.highland.gov.uk/winterwatch
The leaflet also explains that The Highland Council is not responsible for winter maintenance of Trunk Roads and that this responsibility lies with:
Bear Scotland on 0800 587 1107 for the A95 and A96 routes; and
Scotland Transerv 0800 028 1414 for all other trunk routes including A9, A82, A86, A87, A99 (Latheron toWick), A828, A830, A835, A887 and A889.
For information on Highland local roads contact The Highland Council on 01349 886601 8am - 6pm (Monday - Friday) and 9am - 12 noon Saturday; or 0845 769 7284 (Emergency out of hours).