The ability to maintain the Island’s highway network in a safe condition is fundamental to the economic wellbeing of the Island and is a very visible facet of the highway service.
Island Roads’ aim is to manage and maintain the Isle of Wight’s roads and footways to ensure that everyone is able to move around the highway as safely as possible. This includes keeping the roads and footways clear of obstructions, snow and ice wherever possible.
To help us manage our teams to provide a responsive and efficient service, our gritting fleet is fitted with GPS which allows us to monitor progress and record the treatments applied to the network.
The Isle of Wight Council determines which roads are treated in freezing weather. The Council’s focus is on the Island’s key routes as it is not practical or economical to salt every road.
To view our gritting routes, click on the maps below:
PLEASE NOTE: These routes may be subject to change when traffic diversions are in place.
Our depot at Stag Lane is home to our six frontline gritters, back-up and specialist vehicles as well as the Island’s road salt supply which. We begin each year with a stockpile of 1,600 tonnes which is more than enough to cope with even exceptionally severe winter weather. By way of example, during the 2024/25 winter season, our gritters made 40 runs depositing 830 tonnes of salt on the network. That compared to 32 runs using nearly 479 tonnes of salt the previous season.
We can always obtain additional supplies in the unlikely event they are required.
Around 50 staff are based at the depot which also houses our gully-emptying and street cleansing teams.
Our state-of-the-art gritters are fitted with ‘pre-wet’ technology which sprays salt with a brine solution prior to spreading. This limits salt drifting on to grass verges or hedges and ensures the salt sticks to the road. The six gritters have been named by local primary schools. The names are :
District One, Lanesend Primary School – Snow Wight.
District Two, Hunnyhill Primary School – Vanilla Ice.
District Three, Wootton Primary School – Sir Grit-A-Lot.
District Four, The Bay Primary School – Gritty Gritty, Bang Bang.
District Five, St Catherine’s School – Sleetwood Mac.
District Six, Freshwater and Yarmouth CE Primary – Salty McGritface
Before setting off in adverse conditions, please check your vehicle, route and the weather forecast. Follow the AA’s winter driving advice and listen to the local radio for travel news while driving.
You can find out more about our winter maintenance activities and how we keep the network safe in winter by watching our short video below:
Further information:
Winter Weather Advice – Isle of Wight Council
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