Only a few snowflakes are expected to fall this week in Ile-de-France. But often temperatures only drop by a few degrees and freezing rain leaves hundreds of vehicles stuck on the roads… To avoid scenarios like this, the Île-de-France Roads Department (DiRIF) activated its traditional “winterworthiness system” on Monday.
The Minister of Transport, Philippe Tabarot (LR), this Thursday visited Saint-Denis to meet with the agents responsible for monitoring and maintaining the Ile-de-France road. “Every day, in Ile-de-France, there are almost 14 million people using their vehicles. Currently, there are around thirty departments on yellow alert in France, and we are probably going to face a quite complicated weekend. We have to anticipate this through teams that are mobilized 7 days a week, 24 hours a day and ready to trigger very effective actions.”
Nearly 600 agents are ready to intervene
Until March, DiRIF deployed enormous resources to prevent and respond to incidents related to weather conditions. The network of roads and highways in Ile-de-France is very dense, with no less than 25 tunnels and busy motorways.
In a remote office, agent Hubert Maston’s eyes were glued to his screen. “I monitor road temperatures and weather forecasts, especially in forest areas. If the dew point temperature at night is negative, we can trigger preventive salting,” he said.
74 winter service vehicles are distributed to maintenance and intervention centers, and nearly 600 agents are available 24 hours a day, including approximately 160 intervention agents simultaneously in the field. More than 13,000 tons of salt are available, with an average of 4,000 tons spread over the winter.
DiRIF, together with the prefecture, was sometimes forced to preventively close roads, “to prevent thousands of people from being trapped in their vehicles for hours. In Ile-de-France, the most sensitive axis was the N 118,” recalled Jacques Salhi, director of DiRIF.
An agent who risked his life
As many as 7,500 road workers in France risk their lives every day during interventions. In Saint-Denis, the minister discovered the wreck of an intervention truck destroyed by a vehicle driven by a drunk driver. Every year, teams pay a heavy price. In May, an agent died after being hit by a heavy goods vehicle on the N1104, near Mesnil-Amelot in Seine-et-Marne. His partner was seriously injured.
“And we also experienced serious rudeness, when we had to close or reopen roads,” complained Jacques Salhi. Some drivers don’t want to waste a few minutes… Every month, one or two complaints are filed. Our team is accompanied by police personnel. »
