Gritting routes
Our gritting routes are split into two categories − primary and secondary routes. We've also added a third tertiary category which will mainly involve snow clearance and some gritting by farmers and other contractors on roads not previously covered.
Primary routes
Are treated during the day and night and will 'pre-treated' before bad weather hits. Gritting continues 24 hours a day if necessary, as previously.
Cover around 1,000 miles of road.
Include major roads including all A roads and heavily used B roads, major bus routes, roads linking towns and larger villages and roads outside bus, train, police, fire and ambulance stations and hospitals.
Include at least one route into villages and roads serving schools, health centres and other community facilities such as GPs surgeries and parish halls, where possible.
Secondary routes
Cover around 550 miles of road.
Are only treated in the day with the first run being completed by mid-morning. This helps overcome problems of parked cars getting in the way of gritter vehicles doing their job on residential roads at night.
Include some bus routes not covered on the primary network, particularly in residential areas, and roads to smaller villages.
Include well-used main roads through housing estates and villages.
Are pre-treated before bad weather hits, where possible, but primary routes take priority.
Tertiary routes
Include at least one route to isolated villages not already covered on the gritting network, where possible.
Include roads to some industrial areas and roads to schools not covered on primary and secondary routes.
Include roads serving old people's nursing and residential homes, where possible.
We receive regular and detailed weather forecasts which predict the conditions on Derbyshire's roads to help us decide when and where to grit.
During periods of very bad weather gritting the routes may take longer than usual. We'll use all our resources to clear the primary routes and the remaining routes in priority order.
Our teams are on stand-by to respond 24 hours a day, seven days a week throughout the winter service period. You can find out if your street is on a gritting route and when it was last salted through our search.
Footpaths and cycle paths
We clear snow and ice from pavements, footpaths and cycle paths when we have staff available who cannot carry out their normal job because of bad weather.
Just like the road network, footpaths, pavements and cycle paths in Derbyshire are divided into priority routes. Priority is given to paths in town centres and clearance will be done during normal work hours.
District and borough councils have also signed up to help us clear snow and ice from pavements and paths.
We're also working with volunteers from town and parish councils around the county to help keep pavements and footpaths clear this winter. You can find out more about this in the Snow Wardens section.
You're welcome to use grit from any of the county's grit bins to grit public roads and footpaths. Please do not use on private property − you could be prosecuted. You can find out more about what to use on your own paths and driveways in the grit and salt bin section.