A heavy onslaught of snow on Wednesday meant Kelowna’s winter fleet logged thousands of kilometres clearing area roads and the Mounties were called to dozens of weather related fender benders, city officials said.
More than 80 snow clearing units worked to clear and sand roadways, sidewalks and municipal parking lots across the city. The push will be to make sure the city’s main routes are passable. There will also be attention turned to priority 3 roads today.
“Yesterday our winter fleet logged over 12,000 kilometres clearing snow from Kelowna’s roads,” said Roadways Operations Manager, Andrew Schwerdtfeger. “As Priority Three snow clearing begins, we need to regularly return to the Priority One and Two roadways to sand them as snow falls off vehicles and creates slippery conditions.”
While there was a great deal of clearing, the roads still posed challenges to Kelowna drivers. By Wednesday’s end, RCMP said they had been to 40 calls for snow-related vehicle incidents. Of those, 25 calls were within Kelowna city bounds, six in Lake Country and five in West Kelowna.
This doesn’t include any calls made directly to ambulance assist, or fire department or that was answered by BC highway patrols.
This does not include any numbers from BC Highway Patrol, Lake Country or West Kelowna.
Conditions will remain icy today, with temperatures below zero though snow isn’t in the forecast for a couple of days, according to Environment Canada.
With snow-packed conditions on most Priority Two and Three roads, motorists are reminded to slow down, give extra space to roadway crews and fellow drivers and to always drive to current road conditions.
City crews have been collecting snow in the middle of roads in Kelowna’s downtown core to ensure there is room in parking and curbside areas. Depending on the weather over the next week, snow removal operations may be required.
For more information about snow clearing and snow routes, including daily updates, please visit kelowna.ca/snow.