Full marks to Cllr John Mason for unearthing some good information from the County Council about where they are salting roads. He sent us a very long comment here with lots of details.
Perhaps the most interesting bit is that you can find out which roads are being salted by clicking here which takes you to aversion of google earth. If you click on “Map and Treatment” , the roads that are being salted show up in blue.
You can adjust the scale and location to look around Essex (though Southend and Thurrock roads aren’t shown as they are not under the County council.
update 7PM Tuesday: 2 maps added
Can anyone download an image of the map?
There are two aspects to the salting – roads and pavements.
It is clearly inappropriate to expect all roads to be cleared but, as a car driver, my impression is that most through routes have been kept reasonably clear. I am sure there are exceptions but overall a reasonable response.
My bigger concern is pavements where absolutely nothing was done for 6 or 7 days after the snow fell. We have not had any explanation of why this happened but my understanding is that ECC failed to fulfill their obligations and RDC eventually stepped in but no reason given why this took so long.
There has been many comments here and on the RDC website (despite RDC blocking comments!) detailing the problems in Rayleigh and it is reported that RDC told shopkeepers not to clear the pavements themselves. Hockley was similarly affected and across the district non-car drivers, especially the elderly, were literally trapped indoors by sheet ice across pavements in shopping areas and key approaches.
I think residents are due an explanation from ECC and RDC and trust that further problems/delays will not occur if further snow falls. I note that RDC have ordered salt-bins and hope these are installed quickly.
Map and blue roads being salted comes up ok
[img]http://rochfordessex.net/salt/rochforddistrictsalting050110.jpg[/img]
Is this what you had in mind ?
Yes thanks John, how did you do that?
I used a technique I must have first come across about 20 years ago. I captured the screen shot and edited the image. Glad you liked it !!
My only excuse is that I’m not using a standard keyboard!