Edmonton’s snow and ice clearing policy was front and centre at the Community and Public Services Committee meeting on Monday.
After receiving massive amounts of snow last winter, the policy is being updated to take accessibility into account when clearing snow and ice from city streets and pathways.
“I think the main takeaways in that service package is that you’re gonna see improvements in every aspect of what we’re doing,” Edmonton Mayor Andrew Knack said.
Among the improvements being proposed is moving residential blading to a monthly basis, if needed.
“Overall, it’s just the optimization of what we do currently,” said Valerie Dacyk, the general supervisor of Edmonton’s snow and ice control program.
“We’ve been working with our fleet counterparts to make sure that the equipment that we need is up and available and where we need it when the snow falls.”
Knack praised the overall plan improvements.
“(They) would allow for speedier snow clearing on even the Priority 1 and 2 roads and active pathways, so it helps with accessibility, it helps with just the movement of people throughout our city and the safety of people throughout our city.”
While it has been discussed, there are no plans currently to re-introduce the effective but controversial calcium chloride chemical solution.
The anti-icing agent was used on arterial and collector roads during a pilot project in 2017 and 2018, but stopped using the de-icing agent in 2019 after increased concerns about damage to vehicles, concrete and infrastructure.
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The solution was applied in a thin layer once per snowfall and designed to prevent snow from sticking to the pavement.
It has a lower freezing point than sodium chloride — salt — making it easier for crews to remove snow from roads.
“When it was tested, it did actually make our streets safer — there was clear data that showed that,” Knack said. “But we’ve also heard overwhelmingly from Edmontonians, time and time again — they don’t want this.”
While the province has been using calcium chloride on Anthony Henday Drive for years, the ring road is often dry because high vehicle speeds blow snow off the road — whereas lower speeds on city streets can lead to wet accumulation of calcium chloride on vehicles, which then creep into vehicle parts.
Edmontonian and chemical engineer Arthur Potts addressed the committee, expressing his opposition to calcium chloride. He argued the chemical stays wet for an extended period of time and leads to corrosion on vehicles and roads.
“I think they’re going in the right direction,” Potts said said of not re-introducing the solution. “I think more plowing and they’re looking at other options on an ongoing basis are the way to go.
“We’ve proven already in the past that calcium chloride isn’t the right approach in our city.”
The city is looking to have more snow removal machinery deployed.
“We are asking for increased equipment for both roadways and active pathways, as well as a variety of different equipment specializing in catch basin removal or road grating,” Dacyk said.
“There’s a variety of different asks in there.”
Edmonton’s mayor wants council to debate it sooner rather than later.
“It’s gonna help on our roads, it’s gonna help on our active pathways, it’s going to help with accessibility. I’d rather get that work started now,” Knack said.
The mayor has requested the report to be discussed by council right after Labour Day, so changes to improve snow and ice clearing could potentially take effect in January 2027 instead of 2028.
They need to contract competent snow plow/grader operators. Going all winter missing entire lanes doesn’t work for commuters.
Maybe one of these decades, you’ll get things figured out.
Wow, once a month snow clearing. That means after a 1 foot snowfall, that makes it difficult to drive, it will take up to a month to make the roads passable.
An improvement over just plowing it once a year, in the spring, just before it melts. – but they do not get the point. The snow has to be removed when it is deep enough to cause problems.