Storm Arwen - Hampshire Highways preparations

The weather forecast is for wintry showers, with possible snow on higher ground over central and northern Hampshire accompanied by strengthening winds overnight and into tomorrow.  There is a Met Office yellow warning out for strong winds from midnight until tomorrow evening, and the gusts are likely to cause some damage to trees and this may disrupt transport in the County tomorrow. We will have extra resources available to help deal with fallen trees and other issues.
 
There will be a cold start to the evening, and road surface temperatures are likely to dip below zero for a time, therefore we are carrying out a gritting operation on the primary route network in central and northern Hampshire starting from 4:00pm this afternoon, once the afternoon rain has cleared.  Unusually we will be spreading dry salt rather than brine, as the road surfaces are already wet, with more rain/sleet and snow flurries forecast for later in the night.  The gritters will then be on standby for a second run if required overnight.  It typically takes around 4 hours to complete a full salt run of the primary route network, especially with the stronger salt mix being used today in response to the forecast weather conditions.
 
Exceptionally the Highways Operations Centre (HOC) will be opened tomorrow from 8:00 am until 3:00pm to help us to manage the response and deal with damage reports from the public which should be reported using the on-line system only (links below).  In the hope that it is helpful for you in responding to any enquiries the advice we have issued through our website for contacting Highways is set out below:
 
Please report road problems using the County Council’s online reporting service: www.hants.gov.uk/transport/roadmaintenance/roadproblems
 
Emergency issues on the highway can be reported outside of office hours, by calling 101.
 
Report fallen trees online at: https://www.hants.gov.uk/transport/roadmaintenance/roadproblems/treehedge
 
In an emergency situation where there is a danger to life call 999.
 
 
We will monitor the situation over the weekend and decisions will be made through the normal procedures in respect of further salting (gritting) of the Highway network as required and for maintenance and deployment of additional resources to tackle the impacts of Storm Arwen.
 
Regards
Stuart Jarvis
Director of Economy, Transport and Environment
Tel: 0370 779 7582
Email: [email protected]
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