P.A. makes strides digging out after snowfall

Prince Albert continues to dig out after Saturday’s snowstorm that left 4.6 centimetres (cm) of snow behind.

City crews have cleared all Priority 1 streets – major arterial roads, such as Second Avenue West and 15th Street – and are now moving on to Priority 2 streets, which include school zones. From Friday morning to the end of Sunday, a total of six cm of snow fell, according to Environment Canada.

The crews start clearing the roadways once a certain amount of compact snow is on the ground.

“Whenever it snows and we see that the snow [has] accumulated four inches, then we will call all our crews to … start cleaning,” Amjad Khan, the City’s new director of public works, said on Monday morning.

The salt and sanding vehicles will follow the cleaning crew, and they can only put those products on the road after the snow has been cleared, Khan said. These crews have also finished salting and sanding Priority 1 roads.

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Mayor Greg Dionne thinks the City is doing very well when it comes to snow removal – even when compared to other cities. He said some places are worse condition than Prince Albert.

“We all struggle with snow removal, especially in this last little while because we got three storms back to back, which is, you know, different. Usually we get a little break, so we could get it cleaned up, but no, I think we’re moving ahead,” he said.

When it comes to residential areas, Dionne reminds residents that crews have 260 kilometres of roads to work on.

“That’s incredible,” he said. “And so, people don’t understand, what happens in a snowfall, we of course, start with Priority 1 and 2 and move into the residential [areas]. But then what’ll happen, we’ll be getting ready to move into the residential [areas] and it’ll snow again. So then we have to retreat back to Priority 1, so we just sort of start over.”

However, if a resident finds their street is really bad, they can call the public works department. The City has a unit available that will respond to emergencies and will go out to clear the street.

All of the City’s available snow crews are working to clear the snow, according to the mayor.

But it also engages the private sector in its snow removal efforts.

The City converts its summer staff to work on snow removal, but when the City feels it is falling behind on clearing, it uses a private contractor, Dionne said. The City also rents trucks for snow lifts from about five or six different companies.

This year, the City increased the amount it puts toward snow removal. For 2015, the City budgeted $762,590 for snow management and $77,950 for downtown snow management. In 2014, the City put $624,940 towards snow management and $71,150 towards downtown snow management.

Dionne said the reason the City increased the funding for snow removal is to help build up the snow removal reserve. Money not spent this year will be put into the reserve, and the City can use the money next year if it needs to.

Sidewalk snow clearing

Prince Albert is also making headway on clearing the sidewalks that it is mandated to clear. The City is responsible for clearing snow on the sidewalks along four major routes. Among those are Ninth Avenue West, Sixth Avenue East, First Avenue East and Fourth Avenue West.

The community service department’s parks division is responsible for snow clearing on viaducts, according to Khan.

He said crews have already finished clearing the snow along Ninth Avenue West to the Victoria Hospital and along Sixth Avenue East.

In the downtown area, property owners are required to clean the sidewalks adjacent to Central Avenue. Beyond that, property owners outside the downtown area are not required to clear their sidewalks.

Dionne said there are numerous reasons for this. There are a number of seniors that rely on neighbours to shovel snow and others rely on private contractors.

“When you get a big snowfall, they’re going to delay getting there because they’re working at other properties,” he said.

But the City is also to blame, at times, for snow on the sidewalks. Dionne said when too much snow has fallen, the crews end up pushing it onto the boulevards and it spills onto the sidewalks.

“So it’s kind of hard for me to tell you to clean that snow, and then we push it back,” he said. “At this point, we haven’t gotten to that point. A couple years ago, we did warn the residents that we’re going to push the snow onto their sidewalks.”

The City is looking at a number of different options when it comes to getting residents to clear the snow off sidewalks adjacent to their properties. But at the end of the day, Dionne said Prince Albert residents are very good at cleaning their sidewalks, and estimated that about 10 per cent of residents don’t clean.

“At some time we have to look at the root cause of why the sidewalk’s not being cleaned.”

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames