Debrecen4U
January 14, 2026
City Roads Kept Clear Through Ongoing, Coordinated Snow Removal
The Municipality of Debrecen had already carried out preventive measures with its contracted partners responsible for winter operations before the snowfall began.
Snow removal and de-icing works have since been ongoing continuously, on multiple occasions, 24 hours a day, in several shifts, without interruption, using road spreaders suitable for plowing and spreading, small tractors, and light trucks.
As of January 14, de-icing has been carried out on public transport routes and high-traffic collector roads and main routes over a total length of 1,820 km, and on residential estate and other downtown service roads, as well as larger paved roads in garden areas over 588 km, using approximately 940 tons of spreading material.
Winter road operation works in Debrecen are carried out in pre-planned, coordinated processes. The professionals involved in directing winter operations continuously monitor a high-precision, hourly meteorological forecasting subscription service. Based on this, the timing and method of de-icing interventions are determined in advance. The objective in all cases is to prevent roads from freezing solid and to ensure that subsequent snow removal can be carried out as efficiently and quickly as possible.
To this end, so-called pre-spreading plays a key role before intense snowfall, and it fulfills its function only with proper timing. When ordering pre-spreading, not only the expected amount of precipitation and temperature must be considered, but also the time required for the available machinery fleet to cover the affected road sections. It is important to emphasize that there is no machinery fleet capable of reaching every point of the city’s entire road network simultaneously under extreme weather conditions. In those sections where work machines arrive later due to the order of interventions and weather conditions, persistent low temperatures may lead to the formation of ice ice ruts, which, despite interventions, can only be eliminated gradually, in several stages.
Following pre-spreading, the mechanical removal of snow is professionally feasible only when the thickness of the snow layer reaches 4–5 centimeters; before this, plowing is ineffective and may also damage the road surface.
The planning and decision-making process is complemented by on-site control operating 24 hours a day: road supervisors, employees of AKSD, and bus drivers working in public transport continuously monitor the current quality of roads and provide real-time feedback through their reports to fine-tune interventions. In total, 8 high-performance and 27 smaller work machines, as well as more than 160 personnel, are available during task execution, a capacity that enables the coordinated, scheduled, and safe winter operation of the city’s road network.
The municipality hereby expresses its gratitude to all employees and cooperating partners who, despite extraordinary weather conditions, often working at night, on weekends, and on public holidays, take part in snow removal and de-icing tasks. Without the coordinated and responsible work of machine operators, road supervisors, contracted partners, employees of DEKERT Nkft., and vehicle drivers working in public transport, maintaining the city’s operability under these conditions would not be possible.
Compared to recent years, unusually cold and wet, truly winter-like weather has developed across the entire country, including Debrecen. Since January 4, with shorter and longer interruptions, persistent snowfall has characterized the city, resulting in a total of approximately 25–27 cm of snow, and in recent days prolonged, extreme cold weather has been experienced.
Accordingly, winter road conditions prevail on the city’s roads, primarily caused by the significant amount of snow that fell in a short time and the low temperatures. It is important to highlight that due to the extreme cold, the effect of spreading materials used for de-icing manifests more slowly and to a more limited extent than under milder winter conditions.
The Municipality of Debrecen had already carried out preventive measures with its contracted partners responsible for winter operations before the snowfall began. Snow removal and de-icing works have since been ongoing continuously, on multiple occasions, 24 hours a day, in several shifts, without interruption, using road spreaders suitable for plowing and spreading, small tractors, and light trucks.
Since the beginning of the year, de-icing has been carried out a total of 10 times on public transport routes and high-traffic collector roads, including two additional repeated interventions on the busiest road sections. In some cases, de-icing was supplemented by snow plowing operations.
Preventive salting was carried out on residential estate and downtown service roads, as well as on certain high-traffic paved roads in garden areas, and this was repeated on four further occasions. In addition, several smaller interventions were ordered to address snowdrifts in outlying areas and based on reports from residents.
In addition to work carried out on the road network, de-icing and snow removal were performed a total of 9 times on the busiest downtown sidewalks and pedestrian crossings, and 5 times—at 655 stops—on the platforms of public transport stops throughout the city.
On high-traffic sidewalk sections outside the inner ring road, the municipality ordered additional interventions on four occasions. Mechanical and manual works are currently ongoing in parallel, with several teams continuously working at different locations across the city.
Together with road works—and following the servicing of main transport routes—the accessibility of bicycle paths leading toward residential estates has also been ensured. These works are being carried out in a scheduled manner with the available capacities, using a total of approximately 85 tons of spreading material so far.
In addition, more than 40 manual workers of DEKERT Nkft. assist in cleaning sidewalks and pedestrian crossings.
The order of works is determined in all cases based on traffic safety considerations; therefore, priority is given to main roads, public transport routes, and high-traffic collector roads (approximately 182 km – a total of 167 road sections). These are followed by residential estate and other downtown service roads (approximately 92 km – 190 road sections), and, if necessary, larger paved roads in garden areas (approximately 55 km – 83 road sections).
Based on the above, as of today, de-icing has been carried out on public transport and high-traffic collector roads and main routes over a total of 1,820 km, and on residential estate and other downtown service roads, as well as larger paved roads in garden areas over 588 km, using approximately 940 tons of spreading material. Altogether, this represents the active involvement of 2,762 km of city roads in winter operations.
Due to today’s snowfall (January 13, 2026), based on weather forecasts, our municipality ordered pre-spreading works on the entire public transport network, major collector roads, residential estate service roads, and larger garden-area collector roads already on January 12, 2026, at 19:43. The timely ordering of the work ensured that road spreading operations were completed by 6:00 on January 13, 2026. The forecast snowfall arrived in Debrecen around 8:00 on January 13. During the morning hours, snow plowing and spreading works were ordered on the city’s main inner road network, followed by other public transport and major collector roads.
The city’s road network is currently passable; however, it is important to emphasize that under winter weather conditions, perfect road conditions cannot be ensured. Due to the significant amount of snow and persistent cold, snow-covered or icy surfaces may still occur on certain road sections—especially in side streets and garden areas—despite interventions.
According to weather forecasts, temporary warming is expected in the coming days; however, the municipality, in cooperation with partner companies, continuously monitors meteorological conditions under a 24-hour duty system and orders further interventions if necessary.
The city’s budget provides a stable financial background for the continuous and safe performance of winter road operation tasks.
Based on Municipal Decree No. 1/2021 (I.18.) on the cleanliness of public areas and the protection of green spaces, the property owner is obliged to keep the public area directly adjacent to their property clean. Within this framework, snow must be removed from sidewalks by 8:00 a.m., and snow that falls thereafter must be removed within 10 hours, and measures must also be taken to prevent slipperiness.
Current legislation does not impose sanctions for failure to fulfill these obligations; however, public area inspectors may issue warnings. Since January 7, 2026, employees of the Debrecen Public Area Supervision have drawn property owners’ attention to the obligations set out in the decree in 212 cases.
The Municipality of the City of Debrecen with County Rights asks residents to exercise increased caution when traveling during winter weather conditions and, if possible, to use motor vehicles only when necessary. Maintaining traffic safety is a shared interest, and the municipality is taking all necessary measures to this end.
In addition to the municipality, Magyar Közút Nonprofit Plc. carries out maintenance works on the one- and two-digit main roads passing through our city, covering approximately 35–40 km.
Municipal road management tasks—including the handling of cases involving slipping or falls—are performed by the Urban Operations Department of the Mayor’s Office of the City of Debrecen with County Rights.
Source: debrecen.hu | Photo credit: Debrecen városa (Facebook)
