Hundreds more deployed to clear ice
VANCOUVER: Side roads remain mostly untreated as more snow expected later in the week
Residents and municipal employees around Metro Vancouver are still struggling to rid the region of thick ice cemented to side streets and sidewalks after a series of storms, including one that struck New Year’s Eve.
This week, the City of Vancouver pulled hundreds of employees off other jobs and directed them to help clear streets, and sent out an extra 50 bylaw enforcement officers to ensure residents and shopkeepers cleared sidewalks. Meanwhile, municipal work crews across the region took to local roads to tackle slippery driving conditions.
Head to side streets a few metres above sea level and you’re likely to find icy pavement. Take the corner of Ash Street and 17th Avenue (a few blocks southwest of city hall) for example.
As you approach the corner on foot via 17th — between Ash and Tupper streets — step carefully. By noon Tuesday, residents of about half the homes had cleared their stretches of sidewalk, but the occupants of more than a dozen others had not. Those out for a walk that day found themselves doing a slow shuffle past those houses, with the exception of a few children being pulled on sleds behind parents shod in winter boots.
Driving is hardly a safer bet, based on the trouble the driver of a small Mazda truck had navigating Ash Street. After spinning his rear wheels on sheer ice for several minutes, the driver hopped out of his cab and weighed down the bed with tools. By the time he fishtailed his way through the intersection, a BMW Coupe came along and slid into the same spot.
It took a pot of salt from a friendly neighbour for that driver to avoid calling in a tow truck. Of course, as a passing mail carrier pointed out, salt and gravel from the city would help matters.
Meanwhile, the city is doing two things to encourage residents and shopkeepers to clear their sidewalks. They’re sending out bylaw officers to issue warnings or $250 tickets, and offering free buckets of salt to residents at a handful of fire halls. But while city officials crack down on residents who fail to clear their walks, many sidewalks bordering the city’s parks and schoolyards remain shrouded in ice.
In Surrey, priority streets — which include arterial roads, major collector routes and residential streets with significant grades — are in “great shape,” according to the city’s manager of engineering operations. However, local roads are a different story.
“Our city, like most cities in the region, were well equipped to deal with snow and icy conditions on major routes, but unlike other cities in Canada we don’t have the equipment to deal with local roads,” said Rob Costanzo. “It’s been a struggle. We’re asking people to be patient.”
For 2016, Costanzo said the city came in just under it’s $3.6-million snow-clearing budget, with the majority spent during the final three weeks of December.
In the District of North Vancouver, side streets remain a problem, said Len Jensen, the manager of public works. “People just have to be careful with those roads,” he said.
On higher elevation streets, crews have had to haul away snow and dump it in nearby parking lots. The district uses brine when the roads are clear and dry, and has been using salt to control the ice. It has not yet had to use sand.
The City of North Vancouver spent all $75,000 it had budgeted for snow removal in 2016. In Richmond, staff are now holding back on dropping more salt in anticipation of another round of snow forecast for later this week. In the Lower Mainland, claim-related calls rose 11 per cent to 73,515 in December 2016 compared to 65,321 calls over the same period in 2015.
Across B.C., there was a 16 per cent overall increase, from 87,900 calls in December 2015 compared to 101,578 calls last month.