The General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways maintains more than 17,800 km of national roads, or more than 21,000 km when additional carriageways, such as service roads, are included. As the road manager itself reports:
Work directly related to winter road maintenance, particularly snow clearing and removing slippery conditions, is carried out around the clock, seven days a week. As a rule, it is performed by contractors selected through tenders, with whom GDDKiA has signed contracts to maintain the entire network.
We expect that approximately the following quantities may be used for winter maintenance during the 2021/2022 winter season:
- 500,000 tonnes of road salt,
- 3,400 tonnes of calcium chloride,
- 31,000 tonnes of abrasive materials.
What are the road maintenance standards?
During the 2021/2022 winter season, the entire national road network will be maintained according to the following standards:
- standard I – approximately 5,100 km
The carriageway is cleared across its entire width, including paved shoulders, and there may be no layer of compacted snow. After snowfall stops, loose snow may remain for up to 4 hours, while slush may remain for up to 6 hours. - standard II – approximately 11,200 km
The carriageway is cleared across its entire width, including paved shoulders. After snowfall stops, loose snow may remain for up to 4 hours, while slush and a layer of compacted snow of a thickness that does not impede traffic may remain for up to 6 hours. - standard III – approximately 2,100 km
The carriageway is cleared across its entire width, and winter slipperiness is eliminated at intersections with other paved public roads, at railway crossings, on sections with a gradient of > 4%, at bus stops and in other locations designated by the road manager. Loose snow, a layer of compacted snow thick enough to impede passenger-car traffic, and snowdrifts may remain for up to 6 hours after snowfall stops. - standard V – approximately 2,800 km
Details concerning the winter maintenance standards for national roads are set out in the order of the General Director of National Roads and Motorways.
General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways:
The winter maintenance plan assumes that uniform winter maintenance standards will cover entire road routes and that these standards will be maintained throughout the winter season. In cases of prolonged, extremely adverse weather conditions, particularly snowstorms and blizzards or prolonged snowstorms that undo the effects of road clearing, achieving and maintaining the target standard on the roads may be difficult. Consequently, deviations from the adopted winter maintenance standards may occur.
Information about traffic conditions on national roads
GDDKiA operates Road Information Points that collect data on road conditions and pass it on to road users and the media. Information is also posted on the website drogi.gddkia.gov.pl. Detailed information about road conditions on national roads is also available 24 hours a day via the GDDKiA Road Information number, 19 111.
GDDKiA uses available weather forecasts, enabling it to take preventive measures such as spreading salt on roads just before or at the very beginning of snowfall. For operational purposes, approximately 1,100 cameras and approximately 550 weather stations have been installed across the national road network.
Driver, let them through!
The road manager: “The task of drivers operating winter road maintenance equipment is to ensure passability. The equipment is wide; some of it occupies the entire lane, and it moves slowly, at approximately 40–50 km/h. However, it leaves a cleared road behind—one that is safer and ensures smoother traffic. Although road services use yellow warning lights rather than blue ones, as the Police and medical services do, they perform a role similar to that assigned to law-enforcement and rescue services.
It adds:
Therefore, we appeal to drivers to let such vehicles pass. Hindering their work, for example by refusing to let them pass on the road, cutting them off or pushing them into ditches, poses a threat to the health and lives of both service workers and other road users.