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SNOW - Highways Agency out on main roads
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As motorists spent hours sat on the A23 last night (Monday, March 11) the Highways Agency, which looks after the road has released a statement.
The Highways Agency worked throughout the night with its partners in the emergency services and local authorities to respond to the hundres of incidents which took place throughout Sussex.
The statement said: “We treated our roads continually throughout the afternoon and during the night, but a large number of incidents, including heavy goods vehicles breaking down on hills caused closures at several locations. As a result, a number of our salt spreaders and recovery vehicles then became caught in the traffic.
“Strong winds, gusting at speeds of up to 50 miles an hour created snow drifts of up to a metre in height, in many cases blowing snow back onto the carriageway as soon as it had been cleared.
“As part of our emergency response, we used pre-positioned heavy recovery vehicles in six locations in the south east from 6pm onwards to help blockages on the roads.
“In locations where blockages were cleared, we were able to dedicate gritting crews to specific stretches of road where the weather was at its worst and to get queuing traffic moving again.
“The welfare of people caught in the queues behind road traffic incidents has been paramount and traffic officers and our colleagues in the emergency services have been making contact with people to ensure their well-being.
“The position on the condition of our network is constantly changing. However at the moment we are advising traffic heading north from the Dover Ports to take the M20 London bound and avoid the A2.We are expecting that these disruptive weather conditions are likely to continue to cause problems well into the morning rush hour. The M20 eastbound (coastbound) is partially blocked around J11 causing severe delays from J9. There are severe delays of up to 6 hours at the Channel Tunnel.”
However, many residents and drivers were concerned about the lack of grit on local roads. West Sussex County Council is responsible for these and is to release a statement soon.
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Weather for Haywards Heath
Wednesday 22 May 2013
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 5 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 4 C to 12 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North west
