The Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, through the State Road Demarcation in La Rioja, has already started the Winter Road Campaign 2025-2026, with the provision to adverse weather situations of 21 snow removal machines -6 of them with brine extender -, 2 pick-up with GPS, 4 loading shovels, 4,730 tons of solid foundations and two brine manufacturing plants with storage capacity of 110,000 liters. In addition, the solid salt is distributed mainly in 2 storage vessels and 14 silos.
The human resources available for this campaign amount to 57 people.
The coordination meeting of the Winter Road Campaign, which was held this morning at the Coex Center of Sector LO-1 (in the vicinity of La Grajera), was attended by the delegate of the Government in La Rioja, Beatriz Arraiz Nalda, the head of the State Road Demarcation in La Rioja, Eva García-Casarrubios Berrocal, and representatives of the Government of La Rioja, AEMET, DGT, Civil Guard, National Police, APU-68 and Civil Protection.
The delegate has specified that the special device will be operational until April 15, 2026, although, if the adverse weather conditions are delayed with respect to the end of the campaign, the means intended will continue fully operational until the weather conditions are adequate to end the campaign.
In this regard, Arraiz Nalda has explained that in this operation of action against snowfall and other extreme weather situations in the State Road Network in La Rioja it is essential to plan and coordinate all available means to react quickly to any unforeseen events that prevent road traffic, so in the face of adverse situations that may occur during this winter campaign, once again the entire special device of the State will be ready to prevent and act immediately.
In this way, he stressed that “the coordination of all professionals involved in this operation will allow any incident that occurs in the State Road Network La Rioja, at any time of the day and at any point in the Autonomous Community”.
But if the physical means that are operative in the special winter road device are important, the delegate has valued the human means of State Road Demarcation and agencies that collaborate in this campaign, such as AEMET, DGT, Civil Guard, National Police and Civil Protection.
On the other hand, he has pointed out that the role played by the citizens is also fundamental, who must collaborate and attend to the recommendations that the authorities communicate in the face of adverse weather situations.
For this reason, it has recommended to carry winter chains or tires, fill the tank with full gasoline and the loaded mobile to avoid that the vehicles remain isolated, as well as to consult the meteorological parts issued by AEMET and be informed before starting a trip, either through the channels enabled by DGT, Civil Guard or Civil Protection.
Winter Road Campaign 2025-2026
The winter road operations aim, in accordance with the established Protocol of Actions, to maintain in winter the roads of the State Road Network in La Rioja, when they are affected by snow or ice problems, in the best possible conditions of comfort and safety, according to the service levels set for each of the sections of the network.
All sections of the roads of the State Network are assigned a Level of Service, with priority being given to motorways and highways, as well as those roads with greater traffic intensity and those that serve as access to provincial capitals and populations of more than 20,000 inhabitants.
This campaign aims to ensure, as far as possible, safe transit on the state’s roads in the face of frost and snowfall.
Within the winter road operations it is planned to carry out preventive and curative treatments in situations of low temperatures and, in case of snowfall, on the roads affected by these phenomena.
The main objectives are the prevention of the formation of ice sheets on the roads when frost is expected; informing road users of any incident sufficiently in advance; and, in case of snowfall, the removal of snow to minimize disturbances to traffic as a result of these.
An adequate treatment of the winter road is conditioned by an accurate and well-known weather forecast well in advance, which is not always possible, and by the conditions in which the snowfall occurs - traffic intensity, rush hours, access to the large cities….
Therefore, one of the best measures to adopt is in the hands of the citizens: to attend to the recommendations made by the authorities in the face of adverse weather situations.