The city has 76 kilometers (152 lane kilometers) of roads to maintain throughout the city and has 14 pieces of equipment including loaders, sand spreaders, snow plows, and a grader.
From mid-November to March, the city has at least one employee on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The number of employees involved in snow removal is dependent on the amount and duration of snowfall.
Snow removal priorities
City streets are maintained on a priority basis as follows:
#1 Priority – Major collectors and emergency routes, such as hospital hill, Warfield hill road (from Warfield Teck Operations to Highway 22), Fifth Avenue hill, and hills with extreme gradients and significant volume, like Green Avenue.
#2 Priority – Bus routes.
#3 Priority – Downtown core, including downtown parking lots and the Trail and Leisure Aquatic Centre.
#4 Priority – Hills with lighter traffic volumes, such as Lilac Crescent, Park Street.
#5 Priority – All remaining residential streets and parking lots.
When all five priorities have been accomplished, lanes will be plowed and all other streets will be widened.
Sand use and plow direction
City-owned sidewalks, including the Victoria Street Bridge sidewalk and the Columbia River Skywalk, will be cleared following heavy snowfall.
In general, sand is not used on level streets except when extreme icing conditions are experienced.
Snow removal in the downtown area is undertaken after a heavy snowfall – this is normally done in the evening hours. Other designated business areas will be cleared as required.
City plow trucks plow with the traffic flow. Snow is cleared from the centre of the road to the right curb side.
The city will not clear snow windrows from any private driveway.
How can you help?
Citizens can greatly assist the snow control operation by adhering to the following:
Remove all unused vehicles, boats, trailers, etc. from the streets from November to March.
Ensure that any vehicles required to park on the street are parked as close to the curb or sidewalk as possible.
Refrain from shoveling or spreading snow onto the boulevard or into the roadway from sidewalks and private property.
Obey snow removal signs.
Property owners are required to remove any accumulation of snow or ice from sidewalks abutting their property.
Questions?
Direct all snow removal questions or concerns to public works weekdays 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 250.364.0840.
Emergency calls outside of normal working hours should be directed to 250.364.1262. When connected, follow the prompts to public works.
Information is also available at: trail.ca/snowremoval.