At this week's committee meeting, Roger described the problem he had with ice on the bridge between Eastern Road and Third Avenue. There was no ice on the roads at the time.
Turns out that is a well-established phenomenon and it's quite common to see signs saying "Bridge freezes before road" in the US.
The reasons are explained on several sites - Google "bridges ice before roads" to see a few. This site is particularly graphic.
Black ice is specially dangerous over bridges, so be careful out there!
A timely reminder I experienced this many years ago, driving from London to Southend A127 late afternoon.
I had passed over two flyovers/bridges safely and on the third the car in front braked sharply and skidded. I tried to steer round and braked lightly but still came off the carriageway onto a grass verge. The driver behind was less experienced and braked hard in her husband's mercedes, spun and slammed into the side of us just when I thought I had managed the situation.
Once experienced,never forgotten, but a timely reminder is never amiss.
An interesting piece - thanks for that. Can someone point me specifically to the bridge noted by Roger as I can't visualise bridges on Eastern Rd other than the ones as you leave the island by Farlington Marshes and further north just before Sainbury's?
Eastern Road in Havant over the Waterloo line to Third Avenue in Denvilles.
It was also suggested at the meeting that the council place a road salt/grit bin at the site for users to spread on the icy areas. In fact there is already such a bin at the Eastern Road end.