Last year, the 250 agents from the Oise department responsible for maintaining the roads in winter carried out 14 outings to salt or clear snow from roads. An essential job made easier by technology that has become omnipresent on board the trucks used for these missions. Starting with the automatic salting control units, which allow the dosage of salt and brine applied to be adapted in just a few seconds, depending on temperature variations.
“Last year, we tested the system with 21 boxes, this year 18 additional boxes are being installed, to complete the equipment of the entire truck fleet,” underlines Lyonel Bossier, deputy general manager in charge of sustainable development, environment and mobility in the department.
A detailed system this Tuesday, by the departmental council, during the presentation of the 2024-2025 winter viability plan which will make it possible to monitor the 4,056 km of roads for which the department is responsible.
Each box costs around 5,000 euros. A significant investment but which allows the consumption of salt and brine to be halved, for equivalent results in terms of grip on the road. Last year, the winter road maintenance budget amounted to just over 520,520 euros.
Another development implemented in recent years, each vehicle is equipped with a “lone worker protection” system, which triggers an alert in the event of prolonged absence of a truck driver. New, it is no longer on a watch but through an application on the phone that this system is made available. “It’s more practical and also more hygienic, rather than ironing their watch, each driver has the application on their phone,” explains Alexis Fournier, head of the Méru departmental territorial unit.
Finally, to clear the secondary road network, which is not at the top of the priorities of departmental agents in the event of an intense snow episode, the department has strengthened its partnership with farmers in the Oise. There are now 135 of them, compared to 122 last year, to have signed an agreement which allows them to be called upon to clear snow from small roads.
If the last winters have been rather mild, the agents of the 19 departmental road centers are ready to face worse. “We are not immune to an exceptional snow episode, as we experienced in 2010 or 2013,” recalls Lyonel Bossier.
