A total of 79 professionals and 33 machines or vehicles, including six snow ploughs distributed in the conservation centres, form part of the Winter Road Safety Plan for the province of Almería presented by the territorial delegate for Development, Infrastructures and Territorial Planning, Carmen Belén López. The delegate made this presentation at the Almería-Centro Conservation Centre, on the A-92 motorway at kilometre point 333 in the municipality of Fiñana. The event was attended by the mayors of Fiñana, Rafael Montes; Abla, Antonio Fernández and Las Tres Villas, Virtudes Pérez and the conservation teams of the areas most at risk of inclement weather.
Carmen Belén López emphasised that «the Andalusian Government has always been concerned about these times when we have to be more vigilant than ever about the state of the road network and be prepared for any incident».
The territorial delegate pointed out that the Winter Road Safety Plan is designed to guarantee road safety on more than 300 kilometres (of the total 868 km) of roads belonging to the highest altitude regional network at risk of snow and frost in the province of Almeria, so that the road network is kept in optimum condition in the event of possible storms.
«The aim of the work to be carried out will be to ensure that incidents on the roads under the responsibility of this Regional Ministry are resolved as quickly as possible and with the material and human resources necessary to safeguard the roads and their users», added the delegate during the presentation.
Available resources
To this end, the resources available to be deployed in the event of adverse weather conditions are made up of 79 workers, a total of 914 tonnes of salt, 33 machines and vehicles, including 8 snow ploughs, 6 of which belong to the Conservaciones Integrales and 2 to the territorial Delegation’s own resources.
The delegate stressed that the Plan includes the prioritisation of high capacity roads such as the A-92N or the A-92, as well as the A-334 road, due to its importance from the point of view of connectivity to ensure its full operation for basic services and emergencies.
There are also planned areas for light vehicles and lorries around the A-92N in case it is necessary to restrict the circulation of heavy vehicles if it snows heavily, such as the rest area of «Las Nogueras» or «Las Vicarías».
The campaigns launched by the Regional Government of Andalusia for this purpose usually run from 1 November to 31 March each year, although this period may be extended to October and April if cold waves or fronts are brought forward or delayed.
The Winter Road Safety Plan is part of the Emergency Plan for Flood and Snowfall Risks, in which the state, regional and provincial administrations are integrated. This campaign activates personnel belonging to the different road maintenance services, as well as Infoca personnel, and members of Civil Protection, 112, Guardia Civil, National and Regional Police and Traffic Headquarters, among others.