Report an issue with ice or snow

You can report an ice or snow issue on a road or street by using the online map. You can also apply for a salt bin or pile, or a salt bin refill. Salting of main roads takes place to help traffic move safely.

Before you start

Privacy notice

You can find out how any personal information you send to DfI Roads when using this 'report a fault' service will be handled by viewing its privacy notice.

Report ice or snow issue

Additional information

Tracking the progress of a fault

You are able to check the progress of a fault you have reported using this link:

• Track progress of a fault

Other ways to report a roads issue

You can also report an issue with ice or snow on a road by email or phone (for emergencies only) by using the contact details on the Department for Infrastructure Roads page.

Salted roads

Department for Infrastructure (DfI) road gritting staff are on standby 24 hours a day to monitor and react according to the weather conditions.

Salting focuses on: 

• roads carrying 80 per cent of traffic 
• main roads carrying more than 1,500 vehicles per day
• other busy  roads carrying more than 1,000 vehicles per day may be included if there are difficult circumstances
• links to small settlements (100 dwellings or more) by the shortest route to the main salted road

Special allowance is made for school and other buses - an example of this is that a 40-seater bus is counted as 40 vehicles.

Special arrangements are in place for rural schools that face particular difficulty.

Salt bins (grit boxes) or grit piles may be provided for use by the public, on a self-help basis, on roads with light traffic or streets which aren’t usually gritted, as long as the necessary criteria are met.

DfI Roads provides and maintains around 5,500 salt bins and 52,000 grit piles on public roads.

All other routes are normally not salted.

When salting takes place

Salting can take place from the end of October to mid-April. This can be extended if necessary.

The Met Office provides DfI with special weather forecasts to help it make decisions about when salting is needed.

Salt is not normally spread:

• when there is heavy rain, due to the risk of salt wash-off
• on dry roads where frost is not predicted to form
• in the middle of the night and on roads with fewer vehicles, as traffic is needed to turn salt into de-icing solution

Try to make sure your vehicle does not block access for gritters and snow ploughs (abandoned and stationary vehicles are the main cause of obstruction).

No guarantees for ice-free roads

Despite everyone’s best efforts there is no guarantee that roads will always be completely free of ice.

Remember:

• salting time - it takes up to three-and-a-half hours to salt a route, so your journey may start or end on an untreated section of the route
• if it rains the salt may be washed away and ice may form
• the weather forecasts are not always 100 per cent accurate

Main salting routes

The salted network in Northern Ireland is fairly extensive. You can find details of all salting routes at this link:

• Roads salted network map (DfI)

You can also find information on the DfI Roads winter service information leaflet.

Advice when driving in icy or snowy conditions

The best advice to motorists is given in the Highway Code for Northern Ireland:

• drive with care even if the roads have been salted
• be prepared for the road conditions changing over short distances
• take care when overtaking salt spreading machines

You can get more information at this link:

• Driving in adverse weather conditions

Roads information

 You can get up-to-date traffic and roads information at the following link:

• TrafficwatchNI

More useful links

• Clearing ice and snow from footways
• Traffic management
• Department for Infrastructure Roads

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