THE ice and snow caused plenty of problems on the roads and pavements, and district motorists are now facing a new nightmare — massive potholes.
Drivers are warned to be extra cautious in the wake of the recent severe weather which has caused further damage to the area's roads.
As the Arctic conditions receded, significant deterioration in both footpaths and roads has become evident.
Im
provement in the weather has allowed East Dunbartonshire Council to catch up with gritting tertiary routes.
But Councillor Billy Hendry, convener of the development and Infrastructure committee, warned "The gritting crews have worked tirelessly in keeping our main routes clear throughout the severe adverse weather, but now we are having to assess the damage to our roads and footpaths as the snow and ice retreats.
"Obviously there are going to be a large number of potholes caused by frost heave and we would ask motorists to display caution when driving and to be patient with us as we gather a list of all the potholes and work our way around the area repairing them.
"It may take two or three months to complete this programme of works as there has been considerable damage in some places with frost heave moving the ground as much as three inches.
"It is also easy to forget that we have the rest of the winter to face and there is still a national shortage of grit and salt supplies.
"We are working with the Strathclyde Emergency co-ordination group and the Scottish Government to see how we can manage supplies so we can build up our reserves again to deal with any further cold weather snaps that lie ahead this year."
During the 30 days from December 14 to January 13, the council covered a total of 41,630 kilometres of category 1 and 2 carriageways and footpaths, and patrol routes — which equates to one of the council's road gritters travelling from John o'Groats to Land's End 30 times.
A spokesman said all of the 300 plus grit bins had been filled on 12 occasions throughout the period and that a total of 6200 hours to deliver and approximately 4000 tonnes of salt and 600 tonnes of coarse sand were used to help keep the carriageway and footpath routes clear of both snow and ice.
In normal conditions the council has eight carriageway and eight footpath vehicles at readiness, but during this period there were four 26 tonne, four 18 tonne and eight 10 tonne carriageway vehicles, 10 footway tractors, and 12 other vehicles all mobilised to deal with the winter treatment operations.
Have you experienced problems on the roads? Click
here to let us know.
