We carry out gritting (salting) between November and April, to keep roads safe when there's a threat of snow, ice and frost.
Our fleet of gritters and mini tractors are responsible for gritting around 360 miles of:
- roads
- footpaths
- cycle paths
Gritting routes map
Search by postcode or street name to find nearby primary and secondary gritting routes, shown as blue lines. Salt bins are shown as red icons.
Zoom in (+) or zoom out; (-) or move/drag the map to reveal information; you can also:
- click a 'feature' to get further information
- click >> or << to reveal or hide the map legend
Gritting conditions
Gritting is normally carried out in the evening and early morning when:
- road surface temperatures are predicted to drop below 0°C
- frost or ice is expected to form on the road
- snow is forecast
Some circumstances affect when and how we spread grit, including:
- severe weather conditions
- traffic congestion causing delays
- if rain is forecast, which could wash grit away
- snowfall greater than 5cm, meaning ploughing is needed first
- unexpected changes in weather conditions, limiting time to cover routes before 'rush hour'
- temperatures below -5°C, which make grit less effective
Our responsibility for gritting
We carry out precautionary gritting on primary routes and city centre footpaths when there's a risk of frost, ice or snow.
We grit secondary routes if resources are available.
We'll keep you informed about gritting via social media - follow @YorkGritter on Twitter for updates.
However, we cannot:
- grit motorways or trunk roads - these are the responsibility of Highways England
- grit all highways - we only grit primary routes shown on the map
- keep roads free of ice and snow all of the time
- grit land that doesn't belong to us, such as on Explore library property - contact libraries directly to report slippery conditions
- grit car parks, cycle paths, or footpaths outside the city centre
Winter service plan
Our Winter Service Plan includes details (and maps) of our treatment network, and describes our decision-making processes for the winter services we provide.
Salt bins
We provide salt bins at key points to encourage 'self help' when roads are icy; salt, or 'grit', in these bins is also for use on footpaths