Snow removal on roads and in parking areas includes removing snow in traffic lanes, additional lanes, extensions, and/or roadsides and submitting information about the work performed.
Work procedure:
- the operator of the snow removal machine must perform the work in a way that prevents any injury or damage to pedestrians, cyclists, cars, road equipment, and structures near the road;
- it is not allowed to create snow banks at intersections and connections to national and municipal roads;
- it is not allowed to put snow in piles at intersections and in the middle lane;
- when cleaning bridge, it is not allowed to throw the cleaned snow down the bridge on an existing railway or road.
Trucks and other machinery equipped with a snow plough are used for removing snow on roads and in open areas.
The purpose of making a surface less slippery is to improve traffic safety and to achieve the driving conditions set in accordance with the winter road maintenance classes. The best approach to reducing slipperiness is selected based on the temperature of the road surface and its type.
Ways to make a road less slippery:
- wet salt;
- sand-salt mixture;
- sand or crushed stone;
- grooving.
Wet salt reduces slipperiness by preventing the formation of ice on the road or melts the ice and compacted snow, in order to achieve the driving conditions set in accordance with the winter road maintenance class.
Sand or prepared aggregate material (fine crushed stone) reduces slipperiness by increasing traction between the wheels of vehicles and the road surface.
Sand-salt mixture reduces slipperiness by increasing traction between the wheels of vehicles and the road surface.
A lorry equipped with a spreader is used for this work, uniformly spreading the slip-reducing material. The spreader material is fed automatically, with the operator setting the necessary spreading parameters (rate and width) on the spreader control panel.
Grooving reduces slipperiness by making grooves in the compacted layer of ice and snow on roads that have it. Grooving is mainly carried out on roads with a gravel or crushed stone surface. Grooving is performed with the lower shovel of a grader or lorry touching the roadway and creating a grooved surface.Darīts!
Our winter service is available 24 hours a day and is capable of quickly making national roads passable in winter, if such necessity arises. We have depots with machinery and spreading materials across the country. On-duty winter service officers continuously monitor the condition of roads.
The decision to assign the winter service to perform a particular task is made by on-duty winter service officers, based on the actual condition of the road surface and weather forecasts. If they detect conditions that prevent compliance with the set maintenance class (such as snowing, ice on roads), preparations for the work begin. Information about road conditions is received from more than 50 weather stations located on the main roads in Latvia; data are also retrieved from mobile sensors, road users, services, Waze, as well as direct observations.
Latvian Road Maintenance winter service has more than 600 different pieces of machinery at its disposal: lorries equipped with spreaders and snow shovels, graders, excavators, tractors, and bulldozers.