Ready for winter! Since November 12 and until March 13, 2025, the Department of Meurthe-et-Moselle has been in a “winter viability” period. While the first snow has begun to lightly whiten the 3,218 kilometers of its road network, some 180 agents from the territorial development services (Stam) are ready to intervene from the 17 operating centers covering the sector to ensure the safety of users. in the event of unfavorable weather conditions (snow, ice and fog).
“During this period, the departmental road operational center, based in Tomblaine, ensures real-time atmospheric and road weather monitoring 24 hours a day, in permanent contact with the five territories of the department (Lunévillois, Terres de Lorraine, Val de Lorraine, Briey and Longwy),” explains Audrey Bardot, deputy vice-president for infrastructure and mobility.
2,715 km treated by the Department’s teams
During this period, three priority orders of interventions were defined to treat the 2,715 kilometers of roads (or 85% of the network) according to the network hierarchy and service needs.
“The remaining 15% of local roads (505 km) are only treated exceptionally, in the event of a need for intervention by the emergency services,” explains Audrey Bardot. They are subject to specific “Road not cleared of snow in winter” signage. However, we ensure that each municipality is served by at least one treated road in order to avoid any isolation. »
Agreements with municipalities
To guarantee local treatment by anticipating the intervention of departmental services, the community offers to municipalities and groups of municipalities to intervene upstream, through agreements providing for the provision of salt and reformed snow removal blades.
“40 agreements have already been signed, or 136 km treated by the municipalities,” underlines Audrey Bardot, while recalling that the departmental budget allocated to winter viability has been maintained at one million euros despite the drop in interventions since 2019 in due to global warming. Their number varies from 170 to 472 depending on the year.
Call for caution
“Despite all the means implemented, it is physically impossible for us, in the event of snow, to intervene everywhere at the same time,” warns the vice-president. Motorists must therefore review their habits and adapt their driving for greater safety. »
