To scroll through "highway conditions" on the Weather Network's website is to gain a new appreciation for Dufferin County - no matter whether that be for staff personnel or for county council.

As most people are aware, the television version of Weather Network does not normally display conditions of county and regional roads. That coverage had been limited to major provincial highways, and this meant that the cable TV channel ceased showing the condition of provincial highways when the Harris government downloaded them onto the shoulders of municipal taxpayers to "balance" its own budget.

But this winter, thanks to the diligence of Dufferin County, the cable version of the Weather Network does show information on Dufferin Roads 11, 18 (Airport Road), 109 (the former Highway 9) and 124 (formerly Highway 24), showing them twice hourly alongside the remaining provincial highways.

The information on Airport Road relates only to the portion in Dufferin, and does not extend into Peel Region or Simcoe County. Likewise, the condition of 124 is shown only between Shelburne and Maple Valley, and that of 109 from Orangeville to the Wellington boundary.

Dufferin Public Works Director Trevor Lewis indicated county roads disappeared from the TV channel when the Weather Network purchased World Weather Watch from the Province. He suspects the Network is getting its county road information from Dufferin's website.

Not all county roads are on the Weather Network website. Link to "highway conditions," then search the highways by number - not by the map - and you'll find the major county roads listed by number among the provincial highways.

You can find more complete current information about major Dufferin County roads on the county's website at www.dufferincounty.on.ca

There, you'll find a handy map of all the county roads, colourcoded to indicate their condition at the most recent monitoring (done four times a day).

In its forecasting of winter road conditions, the county has access to a Ministry of Transportation installation on Highway 10 north of Orangeville. The council had included a $65,000 item in the 2007 budget to install some predictors of its own throughout the county road system, but the public works committee will recommend that the item be deleted as the cost could have risen to $100,000 or beyond.

The system, "would have helped crews going out (to attend to imminent problems) but would not have been of use to the motoring public," Mr. Lewis said.

Should the county decide to embark on a program that would measure air and subsurface temperatures plus establish the dewpoint at some time in the future, Mr. Lewis said Peel Region has indicated an interest in sharing such information. Because there is apparently widespread interest in monitoring indicators of problems, it might be the sort of undertaking that would have to be considered in future budgets.

In the meantime, Mr. Lewis said he would like to have a camcorder at locations such as Airport Road and Highway 89 to identify things such as foggy conditions or other problems.

Highway cameras are already used and broadcast from such highways as Provincial 400 and 401.