ESSEX is set for its most high-tech attack ever on winter.
Sixty brand new state-of-the-art snowplough gritter trucks, costing nearly £4.5 million, are lined up ready to tackle ice and snow.
The vehicles – part of the new ten-year contract with Ringway Jacobs to run the highways department – were rolled out for the first time last Monday.
"The only thing we cannot predict is the British weather, although we are even getting better at that," said highways chief Cllr Derrick Louis as he dug a shovel into Chelmsford's 6,000-tonne share of the first batch of grit ready to protect the county's roads.
The Springfield depot in Colchester Road, which houses a lofty storage bunker, is the largest of seven strategically spread across the county.
As well as having touch-of-the-button snowplough hydraulics, the new trucks actually mix the grit with molasses, which helps it stick to ice or snow-covered surfaces immediately.
"This is 25 per cent more efficient than premixing," said depot boss Dean Willsher.
"In addition, we have GPS equipment which will be in all the vehicles ready for the bad weather and that means we can know exactly where a lorry is, its speed, how much grit it is using, when it is stopped or parked, and even if one has landed in a ditch and needs assistance."
The technology will also serve residents of Essex via the Highways website which displays all the same information the staff have.
Cllr Louis added: "It means, if a resident wishes, they can see where a gritter is in their area and even predict when to go to the window to see it pass their own home."
He said the county has 14,000 tonnes of grit, mainly imported from Ireland and Spain, stored in seven depots, including Childerditch in Brentwood and Stansted.
"The amount is more than necessary for an average winter with contingency top-up orders in place if needed," he added.
Chelmsford has a 6,000-tonne stockpile, plus 14 of the new trucks, which will operate all over the city, Maldon and most of Braintree, although the north and east of Braintree are served by another centre in Colchester, which has 15 trucks and 4,000 tonnes of grit.
Cllr Louis said: "Essex is as ready as it can be. Nobody can predict the British weather precisely, although two to five-day forecasts these days are pretty accurate and longer range forecasts are becoming so too.
"Our scheme to issue grit to parishes last year was such a success. Even more parishes have ordered supplies from us this year and we have extended the scheme so that towns, where there are no parish councils, can get supplies for accredited community and other groups to use on behalf of their residents."
So far 15 tonnes will go to town councils, parishes and communities in Chelmsford, 25 tonnes to Braintree; nine tonnes to Brentwood; 14 tonnes in Maldon and 26 tonnes for the Uttlesford district.
As well as showing maps of the moving gritter trucks, the county website also picks out of the 4,500-mile road network the essential 1,900 miles, mostly A and B roads, that will be on gritter routes this winter.
It also answers frequently asked questions about the winter service and gives advice on household protection against the effects of winter.
