HEAVY snow brought rush hour problems to Sheffield this morning - despite 360 tonnes of grit being spread on the city's roads.
Blizzards and heavy winds whipped through the city leaving some suburbs under 3ins of snow early today.
Traffic was reduced to a crawl and buses stopped running on some routes.
At 9.20am the A628 between Silkstone and Pensitone was experiencing traffic problems with lorries getting stuck due to the snow. The road was closed both ends at Hoylandswaine.
The popular 52 route to Crookes terminated at Brookhill roundabout early today forcing commuters to walk - and at 6am there was a line of four stranded buses on Crookes which could get no further.
Some angry motorists criticised Sheffield Council saying roads appeared not to have been gritted.
But Sheffield Council's emergency services manager Wayne Southall, who is responsible for gritting, stressed gritters had worked round the clock to help keep the city's roads clear.
In Sheffield 360 tonnes of grit were spread over the roads by more than 20 machines, with workmen concentrating on the higher ground first to ensure all primary routes were covered twice and secondary roads once.
On side roads in some areas, including Crookes, a smaller gritter was used to get past parked up cars.
Mr Southall said: "We have got over 20 gritters out all over the place.
"The city centre was virtually clear so we were concentrating on higher ground, areas such as Deepcar, Grenoside and Stocksbridge.
"Overnight around 360 tonnes of grit has gone down, but there was more yesterday and the night before.
"The way grit works is that once it goes down snow will lay on top of it as it falls, but once traffic starts using the roads it spreads the grit around and that's when it starts to take effect."
Roads closed by the snow included the A628 at Flouch roundabout, which has since re-opened, the Snake Pass and the Woodhead Pass.
Special schools across South Yorkshire were shut because of transport problems. Newfield Secondary in Norton Lees, Penistone Grammar and Darton High were all closed.
Registration was delayed at many other school to allow staff and pupils to get in.
Temperatures overnight plummeted to -2C in some places but forecasters warned the worst of the weather was due throughout the day.
A Meteor weather forecaster said: "The bulk of snow will fall by mid-morning but eastern areas will continue to have snow until lunchtime.
"There will be up to 6cm on low ground and up to 12cm on high ground - enough to cause disruption.
"There will also be high winds causing blizzard conditions and freezing temperatures will create ice as well."
First bus company said it was trying to operate as full a service as possible.
Sheffield Homes was on standby to do emergency repairs for council house tenants. Kier, which deals with repairs, has extra staff if required and access to 4-wheel drive vehicles.
Here's the latest list of school closures:
- Beck Primary School - Opening at 10am
- Deepcar St John's, Sheffield - Opening at 10.30am
- Hartley Brook Primary School, Shiregreen - Open at 10am
- Hatfield Primary School, Firth Park, Sheffield - Open, but not registering until 10am
- Hucklow Primary, Firth Park, Sheffield - Open at 10am
- Mossbrook Special School - Closed for children due to transport; open for staff if safe for them to get in
- Myers Grove, Lower Stannington, Sheffield - Open from 10am
- Notre Dame High School - Open as normal, but bus service from Stocksbridge is not operating
- Newfield School - Closed all day
- Royd Nursery Infant School, Deepcar - Opening at 10.30am
- Sheffield City Council - Transport for Special Educational Needs Adult Service is not running
- St Anne Catholic Primary, Stocksbridge - Open from 10.30am
- Stocksbridge High School - Staff in ASAP, students in for 10am
- Stocksbridge Junior School - Open from 10am
- Stocksbridge Nursery and Infants - Opening at 10am
- Talbot Special School - Closed for pupils; open for staff
- Woolley Wood Special School - Closed for pupils; open for staff from 10am
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FeaturesSouth Yorkshire's green newsMore Rotherham newsMore Doncaster newsMore Barnsley newsCheck out the very latest on South Yorkshire's roads - including live traffic cameras on Sheffield's commuter routes - with our Traffic sectionLatest sport.The full article contains 719 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
