A late February snowstorm wreaked havoc on Kelowna, B.C.’s William Bennet Bridge hill, leaving cars spinning their wheels during what’s usually rush hour, and it turns out that Mother Nature wasn’t the only one to blame.
In the immediate aftermath of the traffic meltdown, questions were raised about Aim Roads crews tasked with keeping heavily trafficked roadways safe, and whether they did their due diligence.
The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure this week came back with results from its review of road maintenance during the Feb. 27 storm.
“The ministry’s review has determined that while the contractor generally complied with our maintenance specifications across the service area, they were not fully compliant regarding storm patrol on the Bridge Hill area,” the ministry said in an emailed statement.
“Ministry staff are working with the contractor to ensure this area remains a top priority during storm events.”
This is a contradiction of what Aim Roads had said when asked at the time, telling Global News that “there was probably salt used first, they were plowing and then salt through early, early this morning.”