NWSRG releases planning chapter of winter guidance

The National Winter Service Research Group (NWSRG) has announced a major milestone in the development of new national winter service guidance, with the publication of the planning section.

A full list of the published sections of the guidance is available here.

The NWSRG also revealed that the Forecasting and Road Weather Information Systems (RWIS) section is currently with the UK Roads Board for approval before going to UK Roads Liaison Group (UKRLG) for final release.

Chair of the NWSRG Chris Cranston said: 'The NWSRG is pleased to announce that the UKRLG has recently given its approval to allow the latest section of the NWSRG guidance “Planning for Winter Service Delivery” to be published, which should provide an excellent platform to allow authorities to review their winter service plans this summer, with the inclusion of a handy checklist.

'It also links together other parts of the guidance. Last week the Forecasting and RWIS section of the guidance was submitted to the UKRB for their approval and is expected to be published this summer.'

The latest (2016) version of the UKRLG’s national code of good practice for highway maintenance, Well-managed Highway Infrastructure, no longer provides detailed guidance for winter service and a result, the UKRB called on the NWSRG to make its Practical Guide generally available.

The NWSRG then set about updating the previous winter guidance, known as Appendix H, which was generally considered to be technically very sound but laborious in practice.

The NWSRG is a major supporter of Cold Comfort and is partnering with our magazine for a new winter service category at the Highways Awards this year. If you or anyone you know stands out in this critical area of highways, please click here to enter.