Winter service concept for the 2013/2014 season approved by the city council
The City of Chemnitz's winter road maintenance concept (B-175/2013) with its extensive appendices on the road network, maintenance matrix and emergency plan was adopted yesterday by Chemnitz City Council in its first meeting after the summer break. The decision means that the priority status of the major priority road network and local public transport routes remains unchanged. At the same time, the restriction on scheduled winter road maintenance will be maintained for the voluntary scope of duties in maintenance levels 3 and 4 and on roads without maintenance in level 0. In addition, a graded categorisation of road conditions according to weather events creates transparency as to what road condition can be expected after a certain period of time under defined weather conditions. The application of the emergency plan (shown in Annex 6 to the draft resolution) ensures a short-term and coordinated response to extreme weather events that entail the risk of a lasting impact on public transport.
The winter service concept presented by the City of Chemnitz's waste disposal and city cleaning company (ASR) in an updated form was amended, adopted and implemented in this form for the first time for the winter of 2011/2012 and was also the basis for proving in the winter of 2012/2013 that the organisation in place is well suited to fulfilling the existing winter road service obligations.The new designation of maintenance levels 1 to 4 (instead of A to D) was implemented and communicated throughout, thereby avoiding confusion with the designations of the cleaning types (A, C, D, W) chosen for street cleaning in the street cleaning statutes.
The organisation of the winter road clearance service includes the tendering of extensive standard service shares for winter road clearance as well as for pavements and zebra crossings. This makes it possible, on the one hand, to limit maintenance costs and, on the other, to ensure that mandatory winter service tasks are carried out in accordance with the law.
The support matrix and emergency plan, which also supplement the 2013/14 winter service concept, have already proved their worth in two winter service periods. As part of the application of the emergency plan, it was repeatedly possible to flexibly and adapt to emerging road conditions that severely hindered traffic with the prepared operational involvement of private companies to increase capacity in the ASR and implement it in more intensive maintenance services on secondary roads. This made it possible to carry out the winter road clearance service itself, as well as to ensure safe access to residential areas by public transport. Other measures that can be implemented if necessary include clearing selected public car parks throughout the city, signposting stopping restrictions or one-way streets and removing snow from traffic-critical bottlenecks.
The ASR also announced that the stockpiling of road salt, lye and grit for the coming season has already been completed. The ASR already has 6,500 tonnes of road salt and 120 tonnes of lye in its own warehouses and silos. A further 3,000 tonnes of road salt were also contracted early on at favourable conditions and can be called off from the supplier at short notice. Emergency deliveries have also been agreed.
Yesterday, the Chemnitz City Council also confirmed the above-plan provision of funds for the implementation of the winter service to be realised by the waste disposal and city cleaning company in the amount of EUR 1,173,813 with its approval of the draft resolution B-197/2013. The projection as at 31 December 2013 for the winter services provided is EUR 3,173,813. The ASR has an annual budget of EUR 2,000,000 for the provision of winter services. Due to the severe winter weather conditions in the first quarter of 2013, it is already foreseeable that the budget for 2013 will be exceeded.