During the past few days of flooding, snow, and severe sub-zero temperatures, Lincolnshire County Council Highways teams have been flat-out, putting in a huge effort to keep as much of the road network open and usable.
It’s been an urgent battle against rising water levels, shifting areas of disruption, and almost impossible amounts of ice to deal with.
But the work has paid off. Out of the mostly rural network of 5,500 miles of Lincolnshire roads, just 25 larger routes had to be closed at the peak of the bad weather.
A team of around 60 Highways staff have been working around the clock to keep travellers moving, with in excess of 1,100 hours put in to deal with the issues.
Over 700 hours of expertly driving huge machines on untreated roads, both day and night, have already been clocked up by gritter drivers across the 47-vehicle fleet.
• Flooding: Full list of Lincolnshire road closures
Cllr Richard Davies, Executive Member for Highways, said: “The Highways team have been working as hard as possible and really delivered an incredible response to the extremes we have recently faced.
“The combination of excessive rain, below-freezing temperatures, and snow really is the worst sort of climate issue that a road network can face. All of that across the county, sustained as it has been, has seen the council really dig in across the service and deliver an incredible response force at very little notice.
“I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved, including our partners, and to every single volunteer who came out to support their local community. We have all shown, once again, that Lincolnshire is made of strong stuff and that we raise our game to suit troubles like this that are put in front of us.”
At the peak of the bad weather, Lincolnshire County Council had 42 Highways teams working, including jetting crews, sandbag crews, and reactive/maintenance gangs.
Sixty tonnes of sand were used to make over 2,000 sandbags that have been delivered. And, to keep road users safe, a staggering 460 road signs were put out.
Seventy different vehicles are being used for the ongoing parts of the Highways work to restore the road network to capacity.