Analysis of Snow Clearing
Cyclist biking through the snow using bike lane, brown trees in the back
Another winter has come and gone and while I know you are probably out there safely enjoying the great weather, I wanted to take a moment to highlight a video that I have previously shared along with some insights on to snow clearing within our city.
I've referenced this video a few times in my last few Community Conversations and wanted to share it with you in case you haven't already watched it.
When talking about snow clearing, I've often mentioned my frustration with snow clearing for those who cannot drive or choose not to drive. Considering approximately 1 in 4 Edmontonians do not drive as their primary mode of transportation, chances are that you know many people who do not drive as part of their daily life.
Snow clearing within Edmonton consists of the following tools:
Plows and Graders
The City uses both front and underbelly mounted plows. Front mount plows allow for clearing of roads. Underbelly plows are used to break up snowpack. Graders are the most powerful pieces of equipment within our winter fleet, and most effective at snow removal. Graders are used during major snowfalls to clear main roadways.
Hand Tools (Shovels, brooms, blowers)
In tight, small or awkward spaces such as stairs, sidewalks, trails and bus shelters, basic shovels and brooms are used by hand crews. These tools are able to clear hard to reach or tight spaces.
Salt, Sand and Chip
The City applies a mix of sand/salt pre-wet with calcium chloride to roads to maintain traction and/or melt snow and ice. The exact mix varies according to temperature and conditions and can change quickly in response to shifting weather conditions.
Chip is typically only used at very low temperatures in snow-packed areas to provide traction. The City tries to use as little of this as possible.
Program Structure
Budget of $60M with additional $25M-$30M for more frequent residential blading
In 2019, the City of Edmonton’s expenditures for the SNIC program were $54M allocated in seven key activities:
Services are delivered from 5 main yards and 6 smaller yards spread across five districts. Infrastructure Operations provides services using a mix of internally owned and staffed equipment and contracted resources. Contracted resources counted for 23% of total SNIC expenditures in 2019 ($12.5M)
Even if you are part of the 3 in 4 who drive as their primary mode of transportation, I'm guessing you have taken time this year to walk through your community in the winter. Considering we haven't had a lot of places to go, many of us become better acquainted with the community we live in.
If you are someone who has spent a lot of time walking this winter, I think it's safe to say that you have noticed the safety challenges that arise when navigating our city by foot in the winter.
The city has worked to better clear active pathways in the winter. Active pathways include sidewalks, multi-use trails, and bike lanes. The City now works to clear some active pathways within 24 hours of a snowfall. I have seen improvements in certain areas (ex: by some seniors centres, along some multi-use trails, etc.).
Although there have been limited improvements over the last few years, there are still many City-owned active pathways that don't receive any attention at all. This makes it more challenging to be outside and safely enjoy our communities.
A specific example I often like to mention is Terra Losa Park on the corner of 178th Street/95th Avenue. Under the current maintenance standards, the City will only clear the active pathways on the exterior of the park (ex: along 95th Avenue and 178th Street). That means that all the trails inside that park are not cleared by the City all winter long. So even though most winter days are not freezing cold, we prevent people from easily being able to access that park all winter long.
If you are someone who doesn't use a mobility aid, that may not seem like a big deal. It's relatively easy for me to walk on snow. But what if you are using a walker? How about a wheelchair? What about if you simply have reduced mobility due to age? Why should only some people be able to safely navigate our city in the winter?
The obvious answer to that last question is that everyone should be able to safely experience our city no matter the time of year.
That's why I'm sharing this video. I think the City has made most of the necessary changes to our snow clearing policy to achieve better snow clearing in the winter. Now we need the proper equipment and staff in order to actually achieve the goals set out in our policy.
Getting that necessary equipment and staff in a constrained financial environment is not something that can happen overnight, but it is critical to scale up this service over time so that more people can safely move throughout our city in the winter.
While this post and video is focused more on active pathways, I believe that scaling up the service will benefit those of us that drive as well because it would let us do more on our local roads which often go untouched unless we reach enough snow to create a 5cm snowpack. That means our intersections in our communities are incredibly unsafe no matter which mode of transportation we use.
If you have the time to answer to think on and answer this question:
What are some of the specific enhancements you would like to see when it comes to winter snow clearing?
