With snow in the immediate forecast, the City of Kelowna, B.C., says its winter crews are ready.
Environment Canada is forecasting wet snow for Thursday night, though it’s expected to melt by Friday. Snow is also projected for Sunday and Monday, with temperatures expected to drop to -7 C.
“We’ve finished switching equipment over for the winter, have more than 20,000 tons of sand on hand for the season and a new snow blower is ready for its very first run which is a game-changer for our operations,” said Andrew Schwerdtfeger, the city’s roadways operations manager.
“Our outgoing unit was more than 30 years old, and it couldn’t keep up with the demands of the job last year. The new one can fill 500 trucks per hour. It will be instrumental in helping remove snow that starts to accumulate in areas where we don’t have sufficient snow storage.”
The city says crews will be dispatched as soon as snow starts falling, and that they’ll be working around the clock on plowing, sanding and de-icing roads.
As in years past, the city says when snow does fall, it will clear roads on a priority system. It also said plow and sanding expectations will be within eight hours after a storm ends.
There are four priority levels, and only after Priority 1 roads are serviced will Priority 2-4 roads see attention.
- Priority 1: Arterial roads and roads with a daily count of more than 15,000 vehicles
- Priority 2: Collector roads, transit and bus routes, school zones, town centres and roads with daily vehicle counts of 5,000 to 15,000.
- Priority 3: All other local roads and residential streets that are flat or have a slight grade.
- Priority 4: All other residential laneways that provide access to properties.
“When it comes to snow clearing, first priority goes to high-traffic roads like Gordon Drive, then collector roads like Richter Street or others with bus routes, school zones, town centres and emergency vehicle stations,” said the city.
And when it does snow, the city asks that motorists move their vehicles off the street to make snow removal faster and more effective.
Also, on some roads, during snow-route advisories, on-street parking is banned in Academy Way, Black Mountain, Clifton / Magic Estates / Wilden, Dilworth Mountain, Kirschner Mountain, McKinley Beach and areas in the South Mission.
More information about priority levels and snow routes is available on the city’s website.