Winter maintenance: The department and DIR are ready to face the snow

As every year in the same period, the prefecture and the department have activated the winter maintenance system. A measure that consists in mobilizing significant human and material resources to allow the Altiligerian roads to remain free and safe in the event of heavy snowfall.
The state, which is responsible for the national roads and the A75 motorway, will thus mobilize around thirty agents per week.

The division, responsible for 3,400 kilometers of divisional roads (including more than 2,600 kilometers located at altitude), in turn released the heavy artillery. Again this year, no less than 320 agents are required (of which 110 can be mobilized 24 hours a day) and 120 machines. The interventions will be carried out according to a very specific hierarchy.
On the 1,600 kilometer priority network classified “D1”, the snow removal ballet thus begins at 04.30 and ends at 19.30 (from 05.30 on weekends and public holidays). On the 1,800 km secondary network classified “D2” and “D3”, interventions will begin between 7:30 and 9:30 and end around

“Our agents are not there to bother motorists”

The prefecture would like to point out that it is important for drivers to be properly equipped with tires in accordance with the rules that have been in force since November 1, but also to adopt a certain behavior towards the teams on the square. During snowfall, for example, they are advised to “position themselves on the cleared track and not try to overtake the snowplows to allow them to work”. Agents face more pressure every year from unsuspecting motorists who do not hesitate to insult or even harass them. “Our agents are not there to bother motorists,” insists Sébastien Castan, deputy director of cabinet services in the Haute-Loire prefecture.
The winter maintenance system will remain activated until March 24 for the department and until April 3 for the multidisciplinary direction of the Massif central roads.

Dominique Lemoine