Winter map shows salt bins and gritting routes for Berkhamsted

As the temperature drops and Berkhamsted braces itself for a white winter, preparations are being made to keep the town running when it gets cold. 

Hertfordshire County Council has published an interactive map showing the location of salt bins in Berkhamsted. The bins are represented on the map by yellow squares. Find the closest one to you and use it when the weather gets colder for salting and clearing snow from the pavement outside your home or business. 

The map also shows the streets that gritting lorries will treat, which include, in priority order, A roads, B roads and major bus routes. The council has modified its routes this year in response to residents' feedback, so that they now also treat walking routes to train stations and shops. 

And if you want to know which roads have been treated before you leave the house, check the daily salting decisions update, which runs between October and April. It summarises road surface temperature, weather conditions and which routes the gritters are covering. 

During the average winter, Hertfordshire's lorries are deployed about 40 times, usually at night. On every trip they treat around 1,500 miles of roads.

Last year, there were 78 nights when temperatures fell below zero, with at least one salting run being carried out on each occasion. The total cost of salting and clearing Hertfordshire's roads and pavements was more than £3.8million.

Are there enough salt bins in your area of Berkhamsted? What did you think of the gritting services during last winter's big freeze? Let us know below.