The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
‘First of its kind’ electric gritter is added to fleet
Weather: Transport chiefs prepare for winter
A new electric gritting vehicle – thought to be the first of its kind in the world – will help with efforts to keep Scotland’s roads clear this winter.
Transport Scotland bosses announced the state-of-the-art 100% electric spreading vehicle will be trialled over the coming months.
The Electra vehicle, part of a fleet of 123 gritters based at more than 40 depots across the country, will undertake patrols on the Queensferry Crossing and the Forth Road Bridge, which is still used by buses.
Transport Secretary Michael Matheson said the move is part of efforts to make the fleet of winter response vehicles “more environmentally friendly”.
New weather stations and sensors on the M8 – the main road linking Edinburgh and Glasgow – are also to be trialled, as is a new form of road treatment using reduced amounts of salt, which will be initially be used on the A835.
Meanwhile, transport chiefs said they would continue to lease specialist vehicles to deal with the most extreme winter conditions.
After heavy snowfall in previous years resulted in major disruption to traffic, new route-specific snow plans have been drawn up for key roads across the country including the M8, M74, M77 and M80.
Transport chiefs have almost 550,000 tonnes of salt in storage, more than was used last winter.
Mr Matheson said: “Our teams have worked hard throughout the year to ensure we are ready when difficult winter conditions set in. We can’t prevent the weather but we can make sure we’re as well prepared as possible.
“While last winter was relatively benign, particularly in comparison to the year before, we have still learned lessons from that period.
“Improvements have been put in place to ensure we are as well-prepared as we can be, and we are trialling some innovative new technology to see if we can make our fleet more environmentally friendly.”
Mr Matheson said Transport Scotland officials will work together with Police Scotland and others to “ensure we have a joined up approach to keep Scotland moving this winter”.
He added: “The Traffic Scotland mobile site – my.trafficscotland.org – is an excellent source of upto-date information on the trunk road network, the @trafficscotland Twitter page is regularly updated, and the ever popular gritter tracker is back again.”