Snow removal operations: These 30 kilometers of roads that will escape snow plows

Motorists, be warned. While the first flakes are announced in the plains this Thursday, we already know that the Canton will not be able to clear snow from its entire network. As usual, only motorways will benefit from continuous winter service, twenty-four hours a day.

“In winter, less than ten sections of cantonal roads – or around 30 kilometers – are neither cleared of snow nor treated with thawing or anti-slip products,” explains the General Directorate of Mobility and Roads (DGMR). These are secondary roads with low traffic “which do not serve buildings inhabited all year round and whose closure does not involve disproportionate inconvenience for users”.

Here are the sections concerned:

RC 61 IL-S from Saint-Livres to Ballens (5 kilometers)

RC 158 IL-S – 163 IL-S from Juriens to a place called “Sapin de Croy” (4.1 kilometers)

RC 163 IL-S from Pampigny to L’Isle-Chavannes-le-Veyron via Mauraz (3.4 kilometers)

RC 260 IL-S from Mauborget to the Neuchâtel border, “Vers-chez-Pillot” section not included (9 kilometers)

RC 546-IL-S from Montaubion to Chapelle-sur-Moudon (3 kilometers)

This renunciation is nothing new. “These sections have not been cleared of snow since the early 2000s,” explains Laurent Tribolet, head of the Maintenance division of the DGMR. The measure was dictated at the time by budgetary constraints. Since then, the Canton has left them out of its planning. However, they remain accessible to traffic “in the absence of snow and ice.”

98% of cantonal roads cleared of snow

Enough to anger the local population, who must find new routes depending on the vagaries of the weather? “No trustee has ever reported a complaint to us related to the lack of snow removal on these sections. The motorists concerned know the situation and have adapted to it,” responds Laurent Tribolet.

The opportunity to remind you that this is only 2% of the roads covered by the Canton (excluding localities). And that the 270 employees of the DGMR are in the starting blocks to clear the remaining 1,470 kilometers, as well as the 200 kilometers of highways.

Petit prevention message as the first snowflakes approach: “Road safety in winter does not rely solely on the state of the roads,” underlines Laurent Tribolet. We call on motorists to anticipate their trips, to equip their vehicle according to the weather or to take, if possible, public transport.

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Thibault New Weme is a journalist for the Vaud section. After a Bachelor in political science, he obtained his Master’s degree at the Academy of Journalism and Media (AJM) at the University of Neuchâtel. He also worked with the editorial staff of Le Temps.More info

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