Gritting roads, cycleways and paths

Our winter season lasts from 1st November to 15th April and throughout this time our fleet of gritters and drivers will be standing by. Regular updates and useful information will be posted on our Facebook and twitter accounts, including when the roads will be gritted and any weather warnings. All our winter related information that people may find useful or interesting will be tagged with #grittertwitter (please note you do not need an account to view these updates).

At 12pm each day during the winter period our highway officers decide whether the forecasted temperatures across Cambridgeshire are low enough to send out our gritters. This year we have split the County into three areas; Fenland and East, Huntingdonshire and South, and Cambridge City. When and where we grit will be dependent on the forecasted temperatures in each of these three areas. Therefore there may be occasions when we grit some parts of the County but not others.

Did you know...

Spreading salt on the roads lowers the freezing point of water, helping to stop ice from forming. However in exceptionally low temperatures salt may have little or no effect. It is important to note that even when roads have been gritted, highway users must still travel with care as the roads may still be slippery.  

We want to make sure that local residents and businesses are prepared for winter, especially when snow or ice hits. The Snow Code has been developed to provide useful advice on clearing snow and ice from pathways and driveways.

Gritting across the county will include primary gritting routes and secondary gritting routes as shown on the below map (last updated 12 January 2017). Primary gritting routes are sections of our highway network which serve as major connecting routes for communities and allow the majority of users to commute and access essential services across the County. Secondary gritting routes will be gritted in addition to primary gritting routes when there is a forecast of a prolonged cold spell and where road surface temperatures fall below zero or snowfall is forecast.

Please note we have increased the amount of primary routes we grit to be back in line with last year’s routes. These will need to be reinstated in stages across the county as resources become available with all routes being reinstated by Thursday 12 January 2017.

Please note that the M11, A14, A1, A1 (M), A11, A47 and A428 are gritted by Highways England.

Blue lines are primary gritting routes. Brown lines are secondary gritting routes.

Detailed gritting routes

The following are detailed gritting routes of footways which our volunteers across Cambridgeshire help treat when temperatures drop to freezing and below. Please note that as they are volunteers there may be occasions when these are not gritted: