The Road Administration and Maintenance of the Pilsen Region (SÚS) has all the equipment and sprinklers ready for winter maintenance. The dispatch center operates 24/7 from November 1 to March 31. The regional company has allocated CZK 300 million for this winter, last winter’s costs were CZK 259 million, a year earlier it was CZK 250 million. Radek Šíma, operations director of SÚS, which serves 4,612 km of second- and third-class regional roads and 977 bridges, informed about it. Until 2025, it will still maintain 412 km of Class I roads with its own technology.
The road workers have over 23,000 tons of salt and almost 23,000 tons of crushed stone in their warehouses, roughly the same as in previous years. Both commodities rose in price. SÚS purchased 14,500 tons of salt, mainly in the summer, when prices were the lowest. Until October 31, it was sold for CZK 2,080/t without VAT, a year-on-year increase of 12 percent. As of November 1, however, it already costs CZK 2,329/t. It bought almost 13,000 tons of crushed stone, the average price rose by 17 percent to this year’s 400 CZK/t.
“We expect to use more brine. We bought a third spreading truck just for this material,” said Šíma. SÚS uses two superstructures for spraying brine, which it produces in its own facilities from bagged salt. “It has a higher economic benefit compared to classic superstructures, but it must be targeted at precise sections and climatic conditions,” said the director of operations.
According to him, all 115 spreaders are rebuilt for winter maintenance, as well as 15 snow blowers, 35 loaders, 26 arrow plows and 55 other mechanisms such as manipulators and backhoe loaders. “This year, we took over eight 18-tonne trucks, one tractor and one loader, all for roughly 62 million. This equipment is already included in winter maintenance,” said Šíma.
There are 350 drivers and 50 dispatchers on continuous alert. “There is a year-round shortage of employees at certain centers, especially in places where there are large logistics centers and in the vicinity of Pilsen. Nevertheless, we have the number of workers for shift operation secured for the winter,” said Šíma.
The region is divided into 104 districts. Each has one truck or tractor and a crew of three for continuous operation. Of these, roughly four-fifths of the sections are treated with chemical sprinkling, the rest with inert material, i.e. crushing, and one is only plowed. The longest circuit is over 187 km and is in the south of Pilsen in the Dvorec resort. The most demanding for maintenance is Klatovsko, where there are 1,066 km of roads in higher elevations. Pilsen has the fewest roads, 143 km. There will be 144 km of unmaintained sections, mainly on Class III roads. classes.
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