A HUGE shed is on "red" alert -- ready to release tonnes of salt for the county's roads.

As the region braces itself for its first real wintry blast, the Highways Agency depot at Junction 6 of the M61 -- home to 2,500 tonnes of salt -- is coiled to spring into action.

The depot is the nerve centre for the north west's roads whose aim is to keep the network of motorways and trunk roads moving, regardless of the weather.

Seventeen hi-tech weather units -- which together form a network dubbed Ice Station Zebra -- will alert the fleet of 52 gritters based across the region, to allow them to get on to the roads to spread salt before snow and ice have a chance to take a grip on the surface and bring traffic to a slithering halt.

Cameras will allow them to monitor key junctions across Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Lancashire, and Merseyside, to spot serious problems.

Each gritter is capable of putting between 200 and 300 tonnes of salt on to the roads each night. The entire region, covering almost 500km of roads, could be protected from the big freeze in less than three hours.

Ten depots, holding 12,000 tonnes of Cheshire-mined salt, are based around the region and could receive the call from Westhoughton at any time.

Winter maintenance engineer Paul Williams believes they are ready to cope with the very worst types of winter weather.

He said: "The network of weather stations will let us know every 20 minutes what is happening with the weather and we have got the cameras as well, so we can see any particular problems building up. We are confident that we can deal with most conditions.

"From time to time, there are problems which arise. A few years ago it snowed so heavily on the M62 that the traffic stopped and the gritters couldn't get through to clear the roads. But that was an extreme case in a location that really takes the worst of the weather".

Mr Williams said the newest weapon in their battle against snow and blizzards was Global Positioning Satellite equipment fitted to the gritters, which allows him to pinpoint their exact locations and direct them to troublespots.

He said: "We can see where the gritters are and talk directly to the police and local authorities to make sure we get the right areas covered at the right time".