North Yorkshire County Council has installed a further ten weather stations to give the area what it claims to be the best coverage in the UK.
Two of the ten stations are based in the Harrogate district on the B6265 Greenhow near Pateley Bridge and the B6267 Low Burton near Masham.
The rest are based elsewhere in the county, including remote area such as the B6255 Ribblehead and the A6068 at Cowling Moss.
All of the new sites are equipped with solar powered cameras that will display images on the county council’s website here.
Read more:
- Active travel plans ‘should consider horse riders’
- Driver shortage causes bus cancellations in Harrogate district
Until now highways officers have not been able to use solar power, but technologies have improved over the past few years.
Weather stations can help drivers and decision makers to determine quickly changing conditions on some of the highest and most exposed roads in the country.
County Councillor Don Mackenzie, North Yorkshire’s Executive Member for Highways said:
“This is a great step forward. This state-of-the-art equipment allows us to have invaluable, up-to-the-minute information about the state of our roads across some of our highest roads.
“Our winter gritting fleet works highly effectively throughout the winter, but despite our best efforts the weather can change dramatically for the worst in these remote routes.
“So accurate information about road conditions is essential to inform and keep the travelling public as safe as possible.
“With the data and images provided by these weather stations we hope the public will be able to make more informed, safer, journey choices during the winter period.”
