Region - The winter heralds itself with falling temperatures and the first slippery road sections.
The road maintenance depots drove the first winter service operations.
If necessary, up to an additional 15,000 tonnes can be called up from the road maintenance depots at short notice.
These salt reserves can cope with even an above-average winter.
Over 1,550 km in five counties
The Weilheim State Building Authority oversees a road network of over 1,550 km of federal, state and district roads in the districts of Starnberg, Landsberg, Weilheim-Schongau, Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen and Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
A total of 65 own and rented vehicles with snow plows and spreading machines are used for this.
Snow fences are set up on particularly endangered road sections to avoid snow drifts.
Reliable weather forecast is essential
For an effective and economical winter service, a reliable weather forecast as early as possible is of decisive importance.
The road maintenance authorities therefore have access to weather radar images and the road condition and weather forecasts of the German Weather Service as well as data from 20 local road weather stations in the official area, which provide current information about the road temperature, precipitation and the salt concentration on the road.
High traffic figures define working times
On federal and state roads with above-average traffic, such as the B 17 south of Landsberg or the B2 between Starnberg and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, it is particularly important to be able to drive.
If necessary, winter service is carried out here around the clock.
The rest of the road network is primarily kept in a passable condition between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.
More than half of the winter service operations on this network also start before 4:00 a.m. in order to be able to remove slippery roads caused by snow, frost or ice at night before the start of rush hour traffic.
No winter service without road salt
The winter service follows the principle “as much salt as necessary, as little as possible”. In terms of effectiveness and economy, salt continues to be the best thawing agent. By moistening the dry de-icing salt with a salt solution (brine) immediately before spreading it, the losses due to being blown and thrown away are reduced and a more even distribution of the salt on the roadway is guaranteed. That is why all clearing and spreading vehicles of the Bavarian road construction administration are equipped with so-called wet salt spreaders.
The latest generation of winter service vehicles is equipped with so-called combination spreaders, which, depending on the weather, can be used to spray brine as well as wet or dry salt.
When applying brine - possible down to -5 ° C - the amount of salt required is reduced and the duration of action on the roadway increases, the consumption of road salt is reduced again compared to moist salt.
Drivers should also be prepared
Even the best winter service cannot guarantee that all roads are free of snow and ice at all times.
For this reason, every road user must expect slippery roads, remnants of snow, drifts in winter weather, or a closed snow cover in the event of prolonged snowfall.
If, for example, heavy snowfall only begins shortly before the onset of rush-hour traffic, it becomes difficult for the employees of the road maintenance service to clear the frozen snow as usual in heavy traffic or in traffic jams.
Every single road user can therefore make an important contribution to road safety in winter by equipping their car with winter tires in good time and adapting their driving behavior to the winter road conditions.
The Weilheim State Building Authority and the road maintenance authorities wish all road users a safe journey at all times in the coming winter 2021/2022.
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