Neu-Isenburg (dpa/lhe) - The road maintenance departments in Hesse see themselves well prepared for a winter operation. In the salt halls and silos there are around 90,000 tons of salt for the gritting service, the state authority of Hesse announced on Thursday at the beginning of the meteorological winter. The halls and silos of the 46 road maintenance depots are filled to the brim. From the beginning of October, around 1,000 employees with around 390 vehicles will be on duty at the authority for winter service. They take care of keeping the more than 15,000 kilometers of federal, state and district roads free of ice and snow. The German Weather Service has forecast light snowfall for the coming days.
On a snow-covered road, the braking distance at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour is around 70 meters, said Transport Minister Tarek Al-Wazir (Greens) during a visit to the Offenbach road maintenance department in Neu-Isenburg (Offenbach district). On a road sprinkled with salt, it shortens to 15 meters. And the earlier you spread, the less salt you need. Hessen mobil also takes over the winter service for cycle paths on the streets and sometimes also in municipalities.
"We set priorities for spreading and clearing operations," said the President of the state authority, Heiko Durth. Routes with high traffic loads or critical points would be approached first. Parking spaces are of secondary importance. The head of the operations and traffic department at Hessenmobil, Rupert Pfeiffer, warned that even a good winter service would not create summer conditions on the roads.
