Highland Council winter road condition and school closure report for Tuesday 12 December 2017 

Road condition reports by The Highland Council’s Community Services for Tuesday 12 December 2017 are as follows:

Caithness and North Sutherland: North Sutherland has sparkling roads with frozen slush  on high parts. Treatment is on- going. The main routes in Caithness are not too bad but 
side roads have hard packed snow on them and are very icy. Treatment is also on going.09:32

South Sutherland: It is very icy this morning across all routes which are currently being treated in order of priority. One gritter has broken down so the B869 is being treated later than normal.
08:37    

Ross and Cromarty:  Very frosty all over. Conditions are particularly bad on west routes due to rain through the night which has frozen so there is lots of black ice about therefore extreme caution advised on all west routes. Widespread black ice is reported by gritter drivers operating in Achiltibuie, Ullapool, Gairloch ,Lochcarron and Applecross. Even the gritting lorries are finding roads extremely difficult with lots of areas needing to be hand treated to keep the lorries moving. East routes not so bad but still frosty with a good sparkle on all roads. All roads passable but caution advised. 08:26

Skye and Lochalsh:  Ice patches throughout the area. Treatment is ongoing on all routes. 09:43

Lochaber: A mixture of ice and frost across the area. Primary and Secondary routes are being treated with salt and treatment will continue on Glen Roads and Other Routes this morning. Also the salting of footways will continue this morning. 08:31
Badenoch and Strathspey: Frosty roads with hard packed snow in some places - roads being treated as necessary 07:55

Nairn: Frosty roads with some hard packed snow in places – routes are being treated by priority as necessary 08:00

Inverness:  Grey frost all over this morning but no fresh snow fall over night. All routes are being treated including footpaths.09:30

Maps of the Council’s gritting routes by priority and policy are available online at www.highland.gov.uk/gritting

The information provided is a summary of reports from operational staff and is intended to give a general indication of typical conditions in each area at a point in time. It is not intended to imply that any individual route is entirely snow and ice free and drivers must be aware that conditions can change rapidly and make their own assessment of conditions for travelling.

Highland has the longest road network of any council in Scotland and it is not possible to treat every road at the same time. A priority system is applied to treat the areas in greatest need first.
Trunk roads are gritted by BEAR Scotland (North West) for Transport Scotland.


School Closures: 
The following schools and their associated nurseries are closed today due to bad weather unless otherwise stated.

Gairloch High School:  
Gairloch Primary:  
Kinlochewe Primary:  
Lairg Primary:  (no water/heating/power)
Poolewe Primary:  
Shieldaig Primary:  

Total schools closed:
•    Secondary schools: 1 (128 pupils)
•    Primary schools: 5 (159 pupils)
•    Nurseries: 6 (48 children)

PLEASE NOTE other schools may close during the day so please visit the school closures website for up-to-date information at www.highland.gov.uk/schoolclosures - 
The page is updated from 7am and cleared each evening. Get alerts of closures on Highland Council’s Twitter and Facebook. Or phone 0800 564 2272 to get the latest pre-recorded message from head teachers regarding their school. Have the school's PIN ready when you call.
 
ENDS
 

12 Dec 2017