Winter on Midlothian roads

Gritting in winter

We clear 380km of priority routes first and then tackle the secondary routes. Only when these are treated can we start clearing residential streets. Therefore, we rely on residents, if able, to clear areas of pavement outside their homes.

Spreading salt on the road is only the start of the de-icing process. Traffic moving the salt around the road completes the process. When traffic is low, roads can remain icy for some time. We often do not salt a road until we have scraped all the snow.

Primary routes

• Important principle roads and bus routes to hospitals, ambulance depots, fire stations, social / care centres and local danger spots (e.g. very steep hills).
• Agreed footway access routes to schools, health centres, and town centres.
• Priority gritting route map (PDF)
• Mini tractor footway gritting - list of streets (PDF).
• HGV Gritting Routes (PDF) - not as driven

Secondary routes 

• Roads that are cross routes, connecting routes, and accesses to industrial areas.
• Footways on hills and connecting footways.

Other routes

• Roads and footways in residential areas.
• Other unclassified roads and flat-lying footpaths.

Extreme severe weather

During extreme winter weather we have a list of routes we grit first which supersedes the priority routes.

• The list of routes we grit first in extreme winter weather (PDF)
• A map of routes we grit first in extreme winter weather (PDF)
• Read our winter service plan (PDF)

You may see gritters on the roads that are not spreading salt. This could be because they are returning to the depot to refill or commuting to their own route and preserving the grit. 

Salt only melts snow less than 40mm deep and only if traffic moves the salt around. It’s less effective below -5 degrees C. Below -10 degrees C, salt does not melt ice. However, we continue to grit even when temperatures hit -10 degrees C as the moving traffic raises the road surface temperature.