Road users are being urged to use extreme caution this evening as temperatures go sub-zero.  

Lincolnshire County Council’s team of 43 gritters will be in action across a host of routes throughout the county as a perilous evening and nighttime of icy conditions happens. 

Gritters boss, Darrell Redford said: “Tonight and into tomorrow is going to be very dicey on the road network because of the extreme conditions we are facing.

“The heavy rain mixed with snow has been difficult enough to deal with, but we’re now facing early freezing temperatures which are going to add a lot of complications for road users.  

“The falling temperatures mean that the standing water on the roads will freeze, we will also see run-off water from adjacent land coming across the roads and freezing even more. 

“Because of the amount of water that’s already come down, and that which will continue to get onto the roads throughout the rest of the day and night, we could see the salt we’re putting down getting washed away.  

“If that’s the case then this will be a very, very dicey period of time, both on the gritted routes and the other roads off them.” 

Cllr Richard Davies, executive member for Highways at LCC added: “Our weather stations across the county that monitor temperature and humidity are helping us predict that road temperatures will drop below freezing at around 5pm this evening.

“That’s very early for the roads to hit freezing point, and it comes at a naturally busy time for the road network.

“We are doing everything possible with our expert gritting fleet, and will continue to work extremely hard across Lincolnshire as always, but it’s worth everyone being aware of these treacherous conditions ahead of time.” 

·         LCC’s gritters will be looking after 43 main routes in the county and in one evening and nighttime will cover nearly 3,000 miles of roads

·         There will be two runs for the gritting fleet; one which starts at 15.00 and the second at 03.00

·         Almost 700 tonnes of specially-treated salt covered with a molasses syrup to help it stick to the road will be put down during the two runs, at a cost of £50,000.