HIGHWAYS bosses say the county’s gritting lorries are ready for action as winter approaches.

Salt-barns are filled and gritter truck drivers have been on stand-by since Monday.***OCT24***

The trucks were out at the start of the month so drivers could learn new routes.

The fleet of gritters are set to travel 114,000 miles during colder months to spread almost 13,000 tonnes of salt on county roads.

Many of the trucks have names, including, Gritty Gritty Bang Bang, Gritendor, Frosty, Andy Flurry, Grit Notley, Gritty McGrit Face and Gritty Gordon.

Changes have been made to routes reducing the need for five gritting vehicles.

That is expected to save £10,000 on fuel bills this year and prevent 14 tonnes of CO2 going into the atmosphere.

County Hall says the service will cost £216,000 less than two years ago and be greener.

Highways maintenance boss Lee Scott said: “Throughout our winter maintenance period, our gritter crews are on standby to keep the Essex road network open and safe.

“Long-range weather forecasts cannot always tell us with any reliability what sort of winter weather we may get, so being as prepared as possible for all conditions is a must.

“Last winter in Essex our gritters went out 59 times on our 59 routes, over 114,000 miles and using almost 13,000 tonnes of salt on our road network.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank our gritter team for the vital work they do to keep our road network moving safely throughout the winter months.

“The gritter drivers are the same operatives who repair potholes and jet drains, among other things, so they are very busy at this time of year.”

Families an track where gritter lorries are at any given moment by using the council's gritter truck tracking page at essexhighways.org/track-the-gritting-lorries.

National Highways is responsible for gritting the A12, A120, M11 and M25 in Essex.