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Six point plan to keep Scotland moving
14/12/2010
Additional measures to improve communication and keep Scotland moving in severe weather were outlined today by new Transport Minister Keith Brown.
The six-point plan was announced as it was revealed that a special multi-agency group will be established in the event of severe weather which will include representatives for Scotland's eight Police forces, the trunk road Operating Companies, Transport Scotland and ScotRail.
The group will operate from Traffic Scotland's Traffic Control Centre in Glasgow.
Mr Brown said:
"In light of last Monday's extraordinary and exceptional weather event,a key lesson was the need to boost communications - both among all the vital agencies involved, and crucially with members of the public. Therefore, within the Resilience Committee we have established how the different agencies involved can work together better so that we minimise disruption to keep our transport networks moving.
"We have taken immediate action in consultation with operational partners to improve communications - both between the different organisations involved and crucially with the public. And the setting up of this multi-agency approach, including the police and bodies involved with both road and rail, helps us to speed up the flow of coordinated information to the travelling public.
"Forecasts for later this week predict more wintry weather, and we want to take every possible step to ensure that we keep Scotland on the move."
Measures include:
- Storing additional salt and grit at key locations on the national trunk road network for quicker access
- Using traffic management resources to enable diversions where necessary
- Further improving the Operating Companies resources by adapting vehicles, such as landscaping vehicles, for clearing snow
- Using the option of removing trunk road and motorway central barriers to allow easy access to blocked or broken down vehicles
- Working with the Police to consider how we can stack HGVs if conditions deteriorate in order to keep traffic moving
- Providing central Scotland's Trunk Road Incident Support Service (TRISS) emergency response vehicles with welfare kits of blankets and supplies