Cities, TransLink gearing up for Friday snowfall

With a snowfall warning looming across Metro Vancouver, Mainroad Lower Mainland Contracting says it’s ready.

Manager Darren Ell says they base their dispatching around when the weather is forecast to hit.

“We bring in crews in advance of that. So, we have people on the ground in trucks, a couple… three, four hours in advance, depending on the certainty of the storm coming through.”

“We have the guys out there patrolling, and then as soon as the snow starts hitting and it starts accumulating, they’re pushing it off and making sure it’s cleared off as soon as possible.”

He’s asking commuters to be patient, because their crews are just as susceptible to heavy traffic as they are.

Meanwhile salt and plow trucks in Surrey are scheduled to work straight through Thursday night into Friday morning.

Coquitlam crews are pre-salting priority routes, and expect to bring in extra workers early Friday morning to clear the roads before the morning commute.

Crews in the City of Langley are brining and salting priority roads, and will have snow plows on call.

Delta Mayor Lois Jackson says crews there have done all they can to tackle Wednesday night’s snowfall, and are as ready as they can be for Thursday.

Jackson says salt, brine and sand trucks are all on hand, as well as snow plows.

She said one advantage Delta crews have this season that wasn’t around last time is a shiny new salt shed in North Delta.

“We’ve been waiting for years to be able to manage a works yard in north Delta, and now we have. We’re in the beginnings of it, but we’ve got the salt shed there.”

In a statement, the Ministry of Transportation said motorists should be prepared for temporary lane closures on the Alex Fraser and Port Mann bridges.

The authority says crews are monitoring the spans due to snow and wind in the forecast, and will be ready to close lanes in order to clear snow from bridge cables.

As far as TransLink is concerned, the authority says it’s ready.

Spokesperson Jill Drews said they’ll be replacing articulated buses with normal buses because they perform better in the slippery conditions, and will be running trains on the Expo and Millennium lines overnight to keep snow from building up on the tracks.

They’ll also be sending de-icing units down the rails to keep it from building up on the power rails.

Drews added they’ve also installed a heating wire on the Canada Line’s power rail, as well as cover boards.

“To prevent snow from falling on it in the first place,” she said.

She says they’ll have all hands on deck to make sure service goes as smoothly as possible.