The Andalusian Government has deployed more than 500 personnel and 148 vehicles to ensure the good condition of the nearly 2,100 kilometres of Andalusian roads that may be affected by snow and frost. The Minister of Public Works, Land Management and Housing, Rocío Díaz, has presented the Winter Road Plan, at an event at the Alhendín Conservation Centre, which serves the metropolitan area of Granada and Sierra Nevada. This plan has been activated this month and will run until the end of March with a special device to attend to the roads of five provinces at risk of snow: Almería, Córdoba, Granada, Jaén and Málaga.
The Minister for Public Works, Rocío Díaz, has praised the enormous work carried out by the road maintenance teams 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, although “it is in weeks like these, with phenomena such as snow storms or these latest DANAs, where their role in taking care of our roads and ensuring road safety for all of us is most visible, but it is a daily task”.
The Minister of Public Works has given as an example the speed with which they act in response to any incident on the road network “to prevent municipalities from being cut off due to torrential rain or heavy snowfall”. For example, of the latest DANAs, only three roads remain closed to traffic in the whole of Andalusia.
The Minister for Public Works has pointed out that this commitment to conservation is reflected in this Winter Road Plan, which will have 501 personnel from the conservation centres and territorial delegations of Public Works. There will also be 148 vehicles, including 42 snow ploughs, 18 backhoes, 75 vehicles (all-terrain vehicles, vans and trucks), seven trucks and five tractors, and 6,210 tonnes of sodium chloride (salt) have been stockpiled as a flux.
Each province has a distribution of personnel and vehicles adapted to the circumstances of its road network. The bulk of the force is in Granada, as it has to watch over 668 kilometres of roads at an altitude of over 1,000 metres and, therefore, susceptible to snowfall, not only in Granada and its metropolitan area, but also in towns such as Guadix, Baza, Cúllar, Huéscar and Alhama de Granada. In addition, there are 66 kilometres where the altitude of over 1,500 metres is exceeded, with particular impact on the Puerto de la Mora and the Puerto de La Ragua, as well as on the accesses to Sierra Nevada.
In the event of widespread snowfall in Granada, the winter road plan can mobilise 160 people and around 60 vehicles, including 23 snowploughs – 20 push-type and three dynamic –; 13 backhoes with mixed shovels and another 21 light vehicles. In addition, there are 20 salt tanks with a capacity of 4,005 tonnes.
In Jaén, 683 kilometres of the road will be included in the winter road maintenance plan. The roads in the vicinity of the Sierra del Segura, with sections of up to 1,500 metres above sea level, will be the most closely monitored by a team of 107 professionals and 30 vehicles. These include nine snowploughs, seven snowploughs with snowplough blades and eight trucks and tractors with a melting agent spreader. To deal with snow and frost, melting agent has been stocked up and 540 tonnes of salt are already available for the start of the winter season.
The planned operation for the province of Almería is made up of 79 professionals and 25 vehicles, including backhoes, vans and snowploughs distributed in the conservation centres. In addition, 380 tonnes of salt are stored in the conservation centres-silos. The work will focus on 308 kilometres of high-altitude road network, with special attention to several sections of high-capacity roads such as the A-92 and the A-92N, as well as the A-334 road.
Up to 344 kilometres are affected by winter road conditions in the province of Córdoba, especially in the Hornachuelos Natural Park, in the Sierras Subbéticas and in the eastern area. 80 workers and almost a dozen vehicles have been mobilised to deal with any incidents that may occur on these roads. Likewise, 100 tonnes of salt are stored and distributed in the different conservation centres.
Finally, in the case of Malaga, the winter road plan covers 74 kilometres of the Andalusian Regional Government’s road network. To do so, there are 22 vehicles – four snow ploughs, three backhoes and 15 vans or all-terrain vehicles – and 75 workers distributed in the four conservation centres of the province, where there is a stock of 170 tonnes of salt and a tank with 180,000 litres of brine.
The winter road plan is based on three aspects: the exhaustive control of meteorological information, through the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet); the application of preventive treatments and the development of rapid action and, finally, information to users. On this last point, the Andalusian Government has a centralised telephone number for citizen information, 012, which, among other services, offers information on the real state of Andalusian roads. This telephone number is operational 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The winter road plan is part of the Emergency Plan for Flood and Snow Risks, which involves the state, regional and provincial administrations. This campaign involves personnel belonging to the various road maintenance services, as well as Infoca personnel, as well as members of Civil Protection, 112, the Civil Guard, the National and Regional Police and the Traffic Headquarters , among others.
The Minister was accompanied by a representative of the Ministry of Public Works, made up of the Deputy Minister, Mario Muñoz-Atanet; the Government Delegate of the Andalusian Government in Granada, Antonio Granados; the Director General of Road Infrastructure, Alfonso Lujano; and the Territorial Delegate of Public Works in the province of Granada, Antonio Ayllón.