Highland Council winter road condition and school closure report for Friday 16 January 2015

Road condition and gritting treatment reports by The Highland Council’s Community Services for the morning of Friday 16 January 2015 are as follows:

Skye and Lochalsh
There is a widespread light dusting of hail and snow with icy patches across the area this morning. Snow 25mm - 50mm deep is lying on sections of the A851, A890 and over the Mam Ratagan pass. Treatment is on-going on a priority basis. Posted 16/1 08:19

Caithness and North Sutherland
There is up to 2.5cm of snow on high routes while low routes are mainly wet rather than covered in snow. Teams are treating roads in priority order. Posted 16/01 09:21

South Sutherland and East Ross
All roads are affected by snow and ice with up to 100mm on high ground. The B9176 Struie Road is badly affected by drifting snow with visibility as little as 20m. All roads are being treated by priority. Posted 16/1 08:14

Nairn
There is a dusting of snow on higher routes. Lower roads are drying up but there are frosty stretches so treatment is underway of all routes by priority. Posted 16/1 07:59

Badenoch and Strathspey
Roads have 1-3cm of snow covering them plus there are a number of icy patches with rutted frozen slush on any un-cleared areas. Teams are checking and treating as required all routes by priority. Posted 16/1 08:43

Ross and Cromarty
There is a covering of fresh snow on most routes,with icy patches and up to 5cms of snow on high levels.  West coast routes are experiencing drifting. The crews are continuing to treat by priority.  Posted 16/1 09:42

Lochaber
All main routes have a covering of snow and are currently getting ploughed and treated. All other routes will be checked and treated as per priority. Posted 16/1 09:33

Inverness
Lower level routes are affected by ice while on the higher levels there is up to 2cm of fresh snow with ice below it. The teams are treating all routes by priority. Posted 16/1 at 06:17

Maps of the Council’s gritting routes by priority and policy are available online for: Badenoch and Strathspey; Caithness and North Sutherland; Inverness; Lochaber; Nairn; Skye and Lochalsh; South Sutherland and East Ross; and Wester Ross and Black Isle.

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.  

Road closures:

Newhall Bridge B9163 on the Black Isle is closed until further notice, due to structural damage. The B9176 Struie which is closed from Aultnamain to Mid Fearn will remain closed for the next two weeks to allow clearance of fallen trees. The B817 Balnagraggan Straight from Skiach to Alness is currently closed due to flooding and in Wester Ross the Bealach Na Ba remains closed due to snow.

School Closures: 

As at 10:15 today the following schools are closed:  

• Ardross Primary and Nursery (severe road conditions)
• Lochcarron Primary (bad weather)
• Plockton High (severe road conditions)
• Plockton Primary and Nursery (bad weather)

In Caithness, Wick North Primary and Nursery is open at the moment but will be closed this afternoon due to the weather. 

The situation is continually changing so an up-to-date list through the day up until 6pm is provided by visiting the council’s school closure website www.highland.gov.uk/schoolclosures. Tomorrow morning parents and carers are advised to check this site from 7am onwards or use the school closures phone line on 0800 564 2272 using the PIN number for their school (which is also available at http://www.highland.gov.uk/schoolclosures) for further information updates.  

Fort Augustus Service Point is closed today so anyone with any queries should contact 01349 886606.