Road contractor asking for public patience after ‘major battle’ with snow

AIM Roads (ACCIONA Infrastructure Maintenance) says its workers have been hard at work this winter.

“It’s getting to be quite the season,” said Dale Ogston, an AIM Roads truck driver. “So much snow this year.”

The road maintenance company said the winter of 2019-20 has been one of the hardest seasons in recent memory, and it’s been a challenge keeping up with the frequent snowfalls.

“With the accumulations we’ve had this year, it’s a major battle,” Terrence Head, an AIM Roads senior foreman, told Global News on Tuesday.

AIM Roads is responsible for maintaining 5,000 kilometres of roads in the Shuswap, North Okanagan and South Okanagan.

The company said its drivers typically can cover around 200 to 250 kilometres in a day.

AIM Roads says it’s aware people are frustrated when roads aren’t maintained as fast as they would like, but the company says it’s doing the best it can.

“Typically, we’ll try to dispatch a truck if (a driver) is in the area,” said Head.  “We try and accommodate the public the best we can.”

The company says roads are prioritized depending on how much traffic the road get.

With a lot of winter still left, AIM Roads is asking the public to have some patience with its crews.

“They (the public) have to be patient,” said Head. “They have to understand, if there is plow truck ahead of them and if they pass the snow trucks, they’re going into a dangerous situation.”

The road maintenance company said when someone passes a snowplow, it can be extremely dangerous as the road ahead is not cleared.

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