What the legislator says

As not all roads can be gritted at the same time in winter road conditions, the legislator has restricted the gritting obligation accordingly. Therefore, the road sections that are particularly important for traffic and particularly dangerous must be de-iced.

Traffic importance alone, without also being dangerous (and vice versa), is not sufficient to justify an obligation for the municipality to carry out winter road maintenance measures.

What does this mean for Salzgitter?

Based on this requirement, the roads in Salzgitter are divided into different categories: Main roads and roads with public transportation. The winter road maintenance service does the following there: regular clearing and gritting, spreading of pre-wetted salt.

Then come the other important inner-city roads.

Here, the SRB is only active during the day, from 7 am. As a rule, the roads are only cleared after snowfall and gritted in exceptional cases.

Finally, there are the lower-ranking inner-city roads and roads in the smaller districts. There, farmers are commissioned to clear snow as required.

The city only cleans or clears the areas designated according to the street cleaning statutes, which are in

• Lebenstedt: Chemnitzer Straße, Créteilpassage, Fischzug and In den Blumentriften.
• Salzgitter-Bad: Breslauer Straße (from Schützenplatz to the railroad underpass), Klesmerplatz, Klesmerstraße, Ladenzentrum Ziester, Marktplatz (up to the roadway connecting Altstadtweg and Warnestraße), Markstraße, Schützenplatz (Soltezentrum), Töpferreihe (from Klesmerplatz to house number 15) and Vorsalzer Straße.

Winter maintenance for all other sidewalks is the responsibility of the owners of the adjacent properties. This means that the city is also responsible for sidewalks where it is the owner of the adjacent property (e.g. schools).

In snowy and icy conditions, the sidewalks and dangerous roadways must be cleared by the residents of adjacent properties and gritted with sand or other de-icing agents.

The winter service must be carried out on weekdays from 7.00 am to 8.00 pm and on Sundays and public holidays from 9.00 am to 8.00 pm.

Harmful chemicals may not be used - road salt only in exceptional cases. Such an exceptional case exists in dangerous places on footpaths and cycle paths or if the slipperiness cannot be sufficiently removed by other means and with reasonable effort. Tree grates and green areas may not be sprinkled with road salt and snow containing salt may not be stored on them.

Footpaths must be cleared of snow to a width of at least 1.50 meters and gritted in icy conditions. If there is no sidewalk, a 1.50 meter wide strip next to or at the edge of the roadway must be kept clear. In addition, gutters and inlet shafts must be kept free of snow and ice so that melt water can drain away unhindered.

Snow and ice must not be stored in such a way as to endanger traffic on the roadway, cycle path or sidewalk. Snow must also not be swept towards the neighbor. Residues of gritting material must be removed when the danger of slipperiness no longer exists.

A violation of the winter road clearance regulations by property owners constitutes an administrative offense that can be punished with a fine. The general fee framework is based on § 17 Para. 1 OWIG (Administrative Offenses Act).

The fine is a minimum of five euros and, unless otherwise stipulated by law, a maximum of one thousand euros.

Current information: Due to the current weather conditions, collection cannot take place everywhere.

The SRB asks that residual waste garbage cans and yellow garbage cans that could not be emptied be returned to the property and made available again on the next scheduled emptying date.

If the volume of the yellow garbage can is not sufficient by the next emptying date, packaging can also be collected in transparent bags, which will then be taken along on the next regular emptying date as an exception.

Until then:
The SRB offers orange-colored waste bags for residual waste that accumulates at short notice. The bags must be placed on the street on the corresponding collection day in the same way as the residual waste container. Collection and disposal is paid for with the purchase of the orange waste bag. The waste bag contains 80 liters and costs 7.00 euros. The points of sale for the waste bags can be found on the City of Salzgitter website under the following link: