MONCTON – Moncton residents are concerned about the city’s plans to scale back snow clearing operations, meaning they’ll only one sidewalk along certain city streets.
Kendall Smith lives on Evergreen Drive, one the streets that will have only one sidewalk cleared this winter.
Kendall says he’s worried about children and how they will get around.
“They’ve got to stand on top of the snow banks now or stand in the street to wait for their buses and there’s no room for them now the way it is so never mind with the one sidewalk missing,” he said.
“You pay the same amount of money for services so why does your services get cut in half?”
He believes residents throughout the city deserve an equal level of show clearing service.
City council voted six to three to reduce snow clearing operations along certain collector streets. The plan would cut operations by nearly 22 kilometers and save the city around $35,000.
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Other residents have expressed concerns about children walking to a nearby school with only one sidewalk to lead them there.
But the city’s Department of Public Works says the new plan could improve service for residents.
Don Morehouse speaks for the Department. He says the new plan would help crews widen streets and speed-up snow clearing operations on the one remaining sidewalk.
“Learning from last winter we decided to consider maintaining a real good service on one side of this busier street and optimize the street width by using the storage capacity on the opposite side,” he said.
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