A9 Gritting Blackford to Greenloaning: EIR release

Information requested

• How many times was the A9 southbound stretch from Blackford to Greenloaning gritted/de-iced in the 12 hours preceding 0930 02/01/25?
• When was the last time the A9 southbound stretch from Blackford to Greenloaning gritted/de iced prior to 0930 02/01/2025?
• What your current standard practice is for gritting the A9 Southbound during weather warnings for ice/snow/cold weather.

Response

As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

How many times was the A9 southbound stretch from Blackford to Greenloaning gritted/de iced in the 12 hours preceding 0930 02/01/25?

The A9 trunk road between Blackford and Greenloaning was treated by our Operating Company Amey at 23:00 on the evening of the 1 January with a second treatment being carried out at 08:00 in the morning of the 2 January. In addition, the route was patrolled by a spreader from 02:00 – 10:00 on the morning of 2 January.

When was the last time the A9 southbound stretch from Blackford to Greenloaning gritted/de iced prior to 0930 02/01/20?

The last time the A9 was treated at this location, prior to 09:30 on 02/01/2025, was 08:00 on 02/01/2025.

What your current standard practice is for gritting the A9 Southbound during weather warnings for ice/snow/cold weather.

Amey, our Operating Company for the North East Unit, operate a route specific forecasting system for each of the routes, including the section of the A9 which they are responsible for maintaining, within their Unit and follow a matrix system which identifies the timing and volume of salt spread required.

This considers road surface temperatures, air temperatures and predicted weather conditions such as the formation of ice or hoarfrost as well as other weather conditions such as rain and dew points. Road conditions are also monitored such as dry, damp, wet. This further dictates the required amount of de-icing material.

Routes have spreaders dispatched a minimum of 2 hours before the point passing below threshold and retreated where weather conditions remain below thresholds points and beyond the effective timescales of the de-icing material.

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