The Coordination Plan of Actions in Snowfall Situations 2024-2025, which aims to ensure winter traffic on the State Road Network in the Community of Madrid, has a large deployment of means that exceed those of previous years, with a total of 230 snow-removing machines (4 more than last year), 108 brine distribution machines and 2,258,000 liters of brine (water with salt) distributed in 28 plants (2 more than in the previous year) and 22,254 tons of salt.
In addition to these resources, the Traffic Sector of the Civil Guard in Madrid will have 735 agents specially dedicated to the Snowfall Plan, 50 more than in the previous campaign. The agents will be able to have specially equipped vehicles to intervene in situations of intense snowfall or frost, in order to avoid traffic problems in the almost 900 kilometers of road network of the State that run through the Community of Madrid.
The government delegate transferred these data on his visit to the Conservation and Maintenance Center of the Roads of the State of Las Rozas, in which he wanted to thank all the professionals involved in the Winter Road Plan for their work to “give the best response to ensure the safety and mobility of all Madrilenians and those citizens who come to the region.” “We are ready, we are ready to face what could happen,” he said.
Additional Plan Resources
Although last year it was not necessary to activate the protocol due to the high temperatures recorded, all means have been activated again, including
almost 30,000 parking spaces for obligatory parking of trucks in the parking areas (29,739) and 101 control points for the establishment of traffic restrictions in the Community of Madrid.
The automatic sprinklers of snow flux located in a stretch of one kilometre at the entrance of the Bus-VAO in Las Rozas (A-6) will also be activated, when necessary, to avoid accidents and retentions in a particularly sensitive area, where snow-removing machines have a complicated access.
There has also been the expansion of information panels on Madrid’s roads and the renewal of infographics to help drivers have the best information and make decisions minimizing risks.
In the event of an emergency, we should also remember the support of the State Security Forces and Corps and the reinforcement of the deployment of the Military Emergency Unit (UME) when the ordinary services are overwhelmed by an extreme situation, cooperating with them at all times.
With this device, it will respond to the clearly wintry adverse events (snowfall, ice, hail or fattening rain) that occur in the state roads of the region. The plan was launched on November 1 and will be in force until April 1, 2025.
Coordination of actions before snowfall
In order to achieve the objectives of the Plan, coordination and agility in the response of all administrations are essential. Therefore, last week a coordination meeting was held at the headquarters of the Government Delegation of ‘Actions against snowfall situations and other adverse weather phenomena in the State road network in the Community of Madrid’, which was attended by representatives of the different competent bodies: the State Road Demarcation in Madrid, the General Directorate of Civil Protection and Emergencies; the Zone Headquarters and the Command of the Civil Guard in Madrid; the Provincial Traffic Headquarters; the Military Emergency Unit; the Community of Madrid through the Emergency Agency and the City of Madrid.
This coordination meeting reviewed the protocol of action adapted to the current state plan that aims to strengthen the systems of coordination between the services, means and resources of the General Administration of the State, the Community of Madrid and the City of Madrid.
Potentially Conflicting Points of the State Road Network
The protocol of actions foresees as potentially conflicting points the levels higher than 1,000 meters, which are: the port of Somosierra on the A-1 (with 1,444 meters of altitude, from kilometer 84 to 96), and the port of Guadarrama-Alto del León on the National VI (with 1,511 meters of altitude, from kilometer 52 to 57). Other conflicting sections are those between kilometre 57 and the border with the province of Segovia on the A-1 motorway, and between kilometre 42 and the border with the same province on the A-6.
Access to Madrid
Another of the priorities of the Government Delegation, given the strategic importance of the city of Madrid, is to guarantee the viability of the accesses to the capital. Special attention will be paid to the tracks that can be described as “critical”, such as the ring roads, the entry/exit radials to Madrid and the accesses to Adolfo Suárez Madrid Barajas airport, railway stations and other transport infrastructures.
Operating procedures
The Plan establishes the operational procedures to be carried out according to the three possible phases that may occur: Alert, Pre-Emergency and Emergency. At each stage, the reasons for their declaration, who should intervene and what resources should be put in place are specified.
The declaration of the three phases is directly related to the levels of risk that can be emitted by the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), through the National Plan for Prediction and Monitoring of Adverse Meteorology (METEOALERT), which provides in real time the best and most up-to-date meteorological information possible with an advance of up to 60 hours. These risk levels are:
- AMARILLO, when there is no meteorological risk for the population in general, although for some specific activity.
- ORANGE, when the weather risk is important. Vulnerable people and property or in exposed areas can be severely damaged.
- RED, when the risk is considered extreme. Vulnerable people and property or in exposed areas can suffer very serious or catastrophic damage.
Snowfall Plan Phases
According to the weather forecasts, the Plan provides for the declaration of three phases:
- The WARNING PHASE that will begin with the issuance by the National Prediction Center of AEMET of a bulletin of warning of snowfall of red or orange levels relative to a certain territorial area, or a bulletin of yellow situation for snowfall in the Metropolitan Area-Henares of Madrid. It will mean the immediate implementation of the Operational Coordination Centre of the Government Delegation.
- The PRE-EMERGENCY PHASE will occur when it begins to snow and the forecast of snowfall is strong and decisions must be made on the advisability of the deployment of snow removal and salt spreading machines on the roadway for the removal of snow, as well as decisions to cut traffic of trucks and buses.
In addition, in this same phase, restrictions will be established on the normal conditions of movement, which may involve the obligatory use of chains to transit the road network, as well as the implementation of controls by the Civil Traffic Guard. In this case, operational prevention procedures will be established, such as the mobilisation of cranes to remove immobilised vehicles that hinder the actions or the mobilisation of snowploughing machines to clear the tracks.
- The EMERGENCY PHASE will be reached from the moment when the snow on the road, the ice or any other circumstance (such as crossed vehicles) causes the cut of the road and it is necessary to pay attention to people who may have been blocked and it is impossible for them to follow the trip by their own means.
In this case, in addition to the actions foreseen in the two previous phases, the means of the General Administration of the State that can contribute to adequate care for the occupants of vehicles that have been blocked will be made available to the competent body in the field of Civil Protection of the Community of Madrid.
Link to statements from the government delegate: https://we.tl/t-ZAcjWPdA8Z