Highway Salt Shock
Page 9
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FIESPITE oft-repeated advice from the I.C.I. organization_ that they should stock up with adequate reserves of ground rock salt, many highway authorities found themselves short of supplies when hard weather struck Britain at the end of December and the beginning of January. In consequence hundreds of vehicles spent New Year's Day en route to Winsford, Cheshire, the location of the Meadow Bank rock salt mine, the only one of its kind in the country. • Serious congestion was caused on roads in the neighbourhood and police had to marshal the waiting vehicles which at one time were estimated to number 300. They came from all over the country but particularly from the South which, on the whole, appeared to have been less well prepared for the severity of the weather. Throughout January there has been a steady pressure of demand.
• With their own fleets fully engaged on road clearance and routine duties, quite a number of local authorities have found it necessary to make hurried arrangements to hire vehicles, some of them not specially well fitted for the task of travelling hundreds of miles in order to
make the neeess y collections. Fortunately Many thousands of tons of ground rock salt were above ground at Winsford and ready for dispatch;
In many places shortage ,of. dumps of rock salt at strategic Points increased the difficulties caused to traffic by the snoW and ice. The salt, is Most effective, of course, if used quickly after the snow has fallen. Substantial quantities are required • by towns and ccien ties since undernormal conditions a ton will be needed for every mile -of 20-ft. highway whilst as the temperature drops so the
volume necessary increases. . • The Meadow Bank Mine wasextended • and modernized in 1960 at the, cost of £500,000. It has a capacity of 6,000 tons a week. The primary crushing plant is situated 400 ft. below ground level at which depth a fleet of dumpers moves rock -salt along the spacious motorway between the cutting faces and the shaft. Last week the lorries were still pouring into the Winiford district.
A check taken at Winsford at 5 p.m. on Saturday showed a 24-mile queue of all sorts and conditions of vehiclesstilt waiting for consignments.