Prague Ready for Ice and Snow: Winter Maintenance for More Than 4,000 Kilometres of Roads and Pavements

Prague is ready for the coming winter season. A total of 74 large gritting vehicles and maintenance crews will be on standby around the clock from early November until the end of March.

Despite autumn temperatures remaining well above freezing, final preparations for winter maintenance are under way in Prague. The city’s road maintenance authority, TSK, has finalised its operational plan for the 2026/2027 season. This officially begins on 1 November 2026 and runs until 31 March 2027.

In total, TSK is responsible for 2,264 kilometres of roads and 1,761 kilometres of pavements and other traffic areas. When individual sections are cleared or gritted depends on their importance to traffic. The winter maintenance plan sets out different priority levels, procedures and time limits.

Main Roads Cleared First

The highest priority level covers 1,399 kilometres of roads. Depending on their subcategory, these must be cleared or gritted within two or four hours of the vehicles being dispatched. A twelve-hour deadline applies to a further 519 kilometres in the second priority level. The remaining 346 kilometres are treated within 48 hours of work being completed on roads in the first and second levels.

Photo: TSK Praha

74 Large Gritting Vehicles Ready Around the Clock

For the most important roads, 74 gritting vehicles fitted with snowploughs are on standby around the clock, seven days a week. A further 50 smaller machines are designated for roads in the second and third priority levels. Two large snow blowers can also be deployed in the event of deep snow or snowdrifts.

For urgent special operations requested by the emergency and security services or the capital’s crisis management team, TSK keeps a specialist vehicle equipped with a snowplough, spreader and spraying system permanently on standby.

A total of 931 staff working in two shifts are assigned to winter maintenance on pavements and footpaths. Of these, 564 remove snow and ice by hand. When there is no snow, they carry out other cleaning and maintenance work. Depending on the weather, an additional 207 skilled workers from other departments may be deployed.

For mechanical pavement cleaning, 80 pieces of equipment and multipurpose machines are available. During heavy snowfall, these also operate at night between 10 pm and 6 am. According to TSK, a total of 24,640 tonnes of sodium chloride and 4,910 tonnes of calcium chloride are planned to be available as gritting materials by 31 October for the coming season.

An initial stock of 1,500 tonnes of abrasive gritting material is available for environmentally sensitive areas, including protected landscape areas and water protection zones, as well as areas used by non-motorised traffic. This will be replenished regularly throughout the winter.

Photo: TSK Praha

Weather Stations and Ice Forecasts Support Winter Maintenance

TSK’s central control centre coordinates operations around the clock. It uses specialist weather and ice forecasts from the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (ČHMÚ) and monitors maintenance vehicles in real time using a tracking system.

A further 23 automatic weather stations provide warnings of impending icy conditions. At six particularly vulnerable locations, systems automatically spray brine onto the road surface: the Novopacká bridge over Kbelská, the Vysočanská flyover, the Wilsonova bridge near U Bulhara, the slip road from K Barrandovu to Barrandov Bridge, the cable-stayed bridge near Mitas on Jižní spojka, and the bridge over Plzeňská at the southern portal of the Strahov Tunnel.