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Snow going
Date published: 14 February 2013
GRIDLOCKED traffic brought more than three hours of chaos to roads across Oldham yesterday as rush hour drivers tried to get home.
The first of what would become 10cm of snow started to stick around mid-morning as temperatures fell.
And as motorists tried to leave work early, traffic ground to a halt along Yorkshire Street, St Mary’s Way, Huddersfield Road, Lees Road and Oldham Way. Side roads became compacted with icy slush.
The A640 road from Denshaw to Huddersfield was closed, as well as the A635 Holmfirth Road.
Cars were seen sliding down Chadderton Way and Queen Street in the town centre.
Buses avoided Lord Street or High Street in the town centre and taxi drivers abandoned their vehicles on double yellow lines on Lees Road, adding to the chaos.
From Oldham, drivers reported taking well ovr an hour to reach Ashton, 90 minutes to Rochdale — and up to three hours to do the 10 miles to Bury.
A frustrated motorist rang the Chronicle to say he was at Holts Estate trying en route to Moorside — and described the roads as being “like glass.”
He added: “I was in a queue of traffic backed up to Ashton. It was absolutely shocking — freezing as well.”
But it all went more quickly than it arrived: most main roads were passable late last night and rain had washed away much of the snow by this morning.
Chronicle weatherman Damian Rodgers said: “It should be mild and pretty dry for the next few days — but it will get colder towards the back end of next week... with more snow possible next weekend.”
Comments
"taxi drivers abandoned their vehicles on double yellow lines on Lees Road"
This happens no matter what the weather is!
it was an absolute shambles. the snow started falling at 8am in the morning and the council didnt deploy the gritters in time. even though it was forecast!
other surrounding boroughs had similar levels of snowfall and their roads where kept clear.
so due to this lack of providing essential services to the people of oldham.
will we now get the proposed 3% council tax increase cancelled seeing as we dont get te services in the first place!
so why should we have to start paying even more!
Work in Saddleworth, waited a little while after 5pm for a bus, got one that was running 90 minutes late...woman next to me at the next stop said she had been waiting 40 minutes. Gave up when we got to Oldham and walked the rest of the way after not moving on Union Street for 15 minutes. Second time in a week done that!!
Still can't work out why it was so bad when the roads were clear...
The question has to be, what happened to the gritters? I did not see a single one all day and am yet to meet anyone who had. We all knew it was coming, so what happened? Maybe they were up on the pennine routes trying to keep them open, nobody appears to know.
I had the misfortune to be on the roads yesterday and they were appalling! Oldham was gridlocked due to roadworks/ closed roads/ diversions etc. Even without the snow it is a nightmare and seems to be getting worse.What used to be a 20 min journey now can take up to an hour and yesterday took nearly 2 hours. 2 hours to go 6 miles accross town!
Majority of the problem yesterday was caused by drivers who think they do not need to queue like everyone else but use the outside lane then cut in!
Although i am in agreement with most on the efforts to keep the roads open , yesterdays snowfall was blizzard like and no matter how much grit you put down it will not be able to stop it settling , with both roads closed over the tops it was bound to be gridlocked as other routes were sort by drivers, there are a large amount of cars on the roads these days, and if everyone wanted to set off home early its obvious what would happen, about time oldhamers realised they live in a vulnerable area.
I dont know why we are suprised with the lack of gritters out as it happens everytime it snows !!! They probably thought they would save a packet and not bother about the safety of the public !! I dont suppose we get a rebate on the council tax due to the lack of service ???? NO IS THE ANSWER
Earlier I saw two grittier going up Ripponden road, two grittier going down but none were gritting. Have we run out? I don’t blame the drivers as they are told where to grit/drive. At the very least I can say the gritter`s were out. smoke and mirrors
For the doubters out there, of there being no gritters out, a gritter has been snapped in the photo relating to the news story. and yes it seems to be stuck in traffic with everyone else!
The perfect storm again, Everyone was warned about the snow, gritters worked thru the night to lay salt then motorists decided to block the roads doing an early dart from work and school pickup which blocks the gritters. Agree we should sacrifice Saddleworth routes except A62 and bring the fleet down to the town centre – Hindsight is a wonderful thing
People need to stop thinking grit is a magic potion that clears roads of any ice or snow. It doesn't. It does help but will not clear any road when the snow is continuously falling.
It was not just a problem for Oldham but for all roads in the surrounding areas. You need grit and traffic movement to make it work, as long as the temperature is above -3°C.
Do any of the people complaininng run winter tyres? Are you all wearing your summer flip flops in winter snow?
Oldham Council are useless. Every single year they abjectly fail to keep the roads clear even in the mildest of snowfalls. Clearly a totally disorganised unprepared & basically ramshackle set up in highways.
The heart is struggling badly enough as it is, at least keep the veins & arteries clear to keep what little blood there is flowing
Why do we struggle in the snow?
1. Most people don't know how to drive in it.
2. Modern tyre design. This is based on low rolling resistance and noise. A basic rule is the noiser a tyre is the more grip it has. Modern "all season" tyre designs have less lugs & this is the main problem.
3. You need narrow tyres. A lot of cars have usless wide tyre.
4. People won't buy a suitable set of winter tyres. It amazing the difference a decent of tyres make. I've used mine for the last 3 winters.
Anyone on the roads could see they were gridlocked. And where were the gritters? Stuck in the traffic like the rest of us. They are not magic. They can not hover over traffic. The only 'avoidable' problem I saw was double parked cars on the hill at Austerlands. Cars coming down wouldn't give way, cars going up, when they got a chance, struggled to grip.
Ex Rail Traveller thanks for your pearls of wisdom.
Many people cant afford to buy winter tyres for winter and flip flops for summer, plus the fact of changing them. I'm very please for your winter tyres but most of theproblem is down to road works, volume of traffic and driving conditions.
Remember, you are not stuck in traffic, you ARE traffic!
sammyk no they're not magic. but to prevent snow from building up the gritters have to be out way before the snow actually falls.
thats how grit salt works.
and according to a friend in the know they had been deployed but where not doing the usual constant gritting.
yet all private gritting contractors where on full alert! doing schools, private business's and supermarket carparks.
which where all kept clear.
why was rochdale, calderdale and ashtons roads ok with the same snow falling then?
Most of the gritter drivers are now employed by firms outside of the council, so that's why you won't see gritting waggons out on the streets. The council have to go cap in hand to employment agencies and ask if they have any drivers on their books who could fill in at short notice because they haven't got their own drivers due to cutbacks!
When will the Council wake up and stop culling qualified frontline staff – Many existing staff would drive the gritters if trained and paid by the council. It’s Oldham it snows FACT. Other local Councils are failing in the same way.
Fedupoldhamer. Being a little 'in the know' myself, the council put plenty of salt down but it needs traffic moving to make it work, when traffic is at a standstill there's not much anyone can do. If you can't see the difference between keeping hundreds of miles of roads as clear as possible and keeping a supermarket car park or school path clear......well???? You have no idea how hard those guys work ...... I have!
Fitton Hill. Try online auction site. Tyres can be cheap on there. I got a set of second hand rims for £40. Cheaper than changing tryes over on one set of rims.
On the main road past work on the same day. 1 tractor up and down all day gritting, 1 land rover making occasional passes gritting, 1 Unimog also doing occasional passes. Traffic was moving slowly.
Was the road clear? No. The snow fell steadly and constantly all day. Many people were stuck in slush when it started to rain.
Isn't it bizarre how Calderdal, Kirklees and surrounding areas NEVE get caught like Oldham does.
They get the same weather conditions and worse but are always prepared.
Probably because when it gets really bad Kirklees don't bother clearing A635 and Nont Sarahs road. Oldham clear to the boundary and Kirklees don't do their side.
well at 8am in the morning no grit had been applied to either the A62 route or the A635 as i had travelled along these routes at that time. you could tell as the roads where dry and no grit was present.
and the snow was alredy falling at that time.
this was the mainly affected route in question.
like i say. grit only works if its applied before hand. ombc didnt grit well enough in time.
its obvious and if you're friend says they did then it shows that their system is not working.
I daresay, if we read the Kirklees Chronicle website, they would be moaning at how bad their council is, and how Oldham clear their roads . . .
you mean the examiner hellesbelles?
and no! they dont complain. as kirklees council does actually grit their roads properly well in advance of the weather.
same as tameside and calderdale.
only oldham seem to fail on this subject. almost every time it snows.
On another note. Just wait until Metrolink is running through the Town Centre Streets.
Then tram passengers can get involved in the road traffic conjestion as well. Something I'm sure they'll all be pleased with, as they are missing out on that joy at the moment.
The people of Eccles are fortunate as the can be affected by road traffic, "20/02/2013 10:05 Eccles/MediaCityUK delays
Metrolink service
Due to earlier traffic congestion on Eccles New Road we are currently experiencing delays"
and when the weather isnt actually that cold. the gritters are out in full force.
last night i saw four gritters around the oldham borough!
that was between 8pm and 9pm.
and it wasnt even that cold!
i wish they'd make their minds up!
Have Your Say
What a surprise we only knew 7 days before the snow would come !!!! Well done Oldham gritters useless!
By AUSSIEWATCHER @ 14/02/2013 12:56:55