Slippery North Okanagan roads continue to be a concern.
Residents from Vernon, B.C., to Enderby have expressed concern about conditions in recent weeks, and on Friday the contractor tasked with snow removal and de-icing noted the conditions were worth avoiding in some areas.
“We are getting reports from our road crews that side roads in Vernon, Cherryville, Lumby are very slippery,” AIM contracting said in a Facebook post on Friday morning.
“Please avoid these areas as possible. If necessary travel is required, please drive with extreme caution, avoid aggressive acceleration or abrupt braking, approach intersections, traffic lights and stop signs slowly. All of our units are deployed, chained up and spreading traction control.”
One of the many Enderby residents who expressed concerns about road maintenance as of late noted that, over Christmas, the conditions were particularly poor.
So much so, that they didn’t dare leave their home.
In a statement, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure said unusual weather over the holidays saw extreme cold and heavy snow followed immediately by freezing rain and this led to extremely challenging road conditions in the Enderby area.
“The ministry was continuously monitoring the performance of the contractor during this period and determined that in some cases response times were not met for restoring traction on side roads in the Enderby area,” the ministry statement said.
“The ministry is continuing to meet with the contractor to debrief on the storm and analyze operations during this period to identify opportunities to improve service when similar challenging conditions occur in the future.”
— With files from Megan Turcato
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