Snow Removal In Prince George In 2015 An Eight
About 30 centimeters (12 inches) of snow has fallen in many parts of the city over the past two days, in some areas more.
So let’s evaluate the snow removal for 2015 and the Christmas season of 2014.
Based upon what you have seen in the Cty over the past couple of weeks, it is fair to say that the city crews should receive an 8 . Yes we do have ice on many streets brought about by freezing rain and wet snow falling on the streets . It is extremely hard to move wet snow , unless you have one hell of a lot of equipment on the streets, and one hell of a lot of money to go with it.
Think about it, if someone drove onto your driveway during that wet snow , you will be ready to admit that it is very hard to remove the ruts that simple drive would create. It packs down and turns into ice. Freezing rain falling on our streets has the same effect. The frost in the ground turns that rain into ice the moment it comes into contact with the roadway.
So yes we can say we could have done better, but at what price? The main thoroughfares have been cleared fairly quickly given the dumps we have received.
We have to expect that it will take at least some days to completely clear the streets given that we have had two dumps in the past couple of days.
An old friend of mine phoned on Tuesday to inform me what grid lock is all about in the Okanagan when it comes to a snow fall. He said , they don’t have the equipment, they don’t have the experience , with the result that at his place of business 12 inches or 30 centimeters of snow has virtually brought the cities of Vernon and Kelowna to a halt. Schools are closed along with businesses because of the snow fall and the cities inability to get it moved. You may get out of your driveway he said, but you are not driving down the street.
Some years ago the City Engineer commented in an interview that I conducted, that the city could have the streets bare to the pavement throughout the entire winter. All that we needed was the money and the equipment, he ended by saying money doesn’t buy you everything but in snow removal it does.
In 2015 snow removal has been at a level that reflects not only the need but the cost.
I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.
Comments
Unfortunately too many people want everything handed to them on a platter I was I pressed at how fast the streets were cleaned on the first snow fall but I met so many people that were not happy because either no sand or salt was dropped or very little yet imo neither was needed just better drivers.
The latest snowfall crews were out and doing what they could do but people again were complaining that sand and salt were being spread on the roads but why was the city not lowing the main artery roads during the day because it took an extra 10 minutes to get yo work on unplaced roads that were sanded you just can’t make the people of this city happy no matter what it does.
I agree, Ben! Our City snow removal crew is doing a great job this year, compared to last year.
For all intents and purposes winter has just started since they really didn’t have any plowing to do to speak of before the holidays, so the cost is more due to mother nature than to good management. Secondly, I didn’t find the roads plowed yesterday morning down 15th ave at 8 AM, so those who say the main arteries were plowed promptly obviously didn’t get downtown until later when they perhaps were plowed. Thirdly, I see no change up on the Hart where I live, we still have not seen a plow in our neighbourhood from the first dump and we have garbage pickup tomorrow, so time will tell if they actually do as they say and do the garbage routes first when doing residential.
Lol you can’t please everyone. Famous words. I’m happy about it so far but in 2013-14 winter I was one of those not pleased.
Crews cleared 15th Ave by UHNBC around 11 last night. Don’t forget how many km of streets this city has compared to the number of equipment and staff it has to clear them off. I also thought that in 2013 but it was just a bad bad year filled with crappy weather much different than so far this winter. Plus 16 in December 2014! Now we have 40 plus cm on the ground!
An 8? I want whatever you have in your morning tea.
We’re hosting the Canada Winter Games in a few short weeks; that means there will be a lot of people visiting our city. Most of those people will already have the idea that Prince George is a backwater hick town and, if our downtown core looks like it does right now, they will walk away from PG knowing that we are indeed a backwater hick town.
I heard on the radio that residential streets were being plowed this morning. That’s an odd allocation of resources considering that a lot of the non-residential streets are still a mess.
But I guess most of you are content being backwater hicks.
it would be nice if the city would clean the access streets to the college 18th and 22nd.pretty sure they keep the way to UNBC clean.
An eight out of ten is pretty good considering that they are doing an o.k. job with a fleet of equipment that was condemned as being unfit to do the job as it was deemed very old, totally worn out and needing a complete replacement at a cost of several million dollars!
ABSOLUTELY DISAGREE WITH THE 8 ….. THE LEAST RESIDENTS OF THIS CITY SHOULD EXPECT IS TO BE ABLE TO DRIVE ON SAFE ROADS …… THIS IS CERTAINLY NOT THE CASE …. I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW MANY ACCIDENTS AND INJURYS HAVE OCCURRED IN THE LAST FEW DAYS DUE TO ICY INTERSECTIONS ….. IF IT IS POSSIBLE TO CLEAR THE ROADS DOWN TO BARE PAVEMENT, THEN MAKE IT HAPPEN ….. YOUR SAFETY AND THAT OF YOUR DRIVING FAMILY IS THE LEAST YOU SHOULD EXPECT FOR THE TAXES YOU PAY …. STREET CLEARING MAY BE MARGINALLY BETTER THAN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS BUT IT STILL GETS A BIG “FAIL” AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED… STOP SPENDING MONEY ON CRAP AND PUT IT BACK WHERE IT BELONGS …IN THE BASICS OF KEEPING ALL RESIDENTS OF THIS CITY SAFE ON THE ROADS ……
Snow removal has been fantastic this year. Much better compared to previous years.
The snow removal this year has been a lot better than years gone by. Remember last year, when even the main thruways were left untouched.
A foot of snow may be three times more than four inches, however I’m sure its a lot more effort than 3 times the less snow fall to keep the streets clean. The problem is the road widths are limited and you cant windrow 12 inches of snow like you can 4 inches of snow.
I don’t mind that it takes an extra day or two to get to the side streets, if it means saving dollars by not paying excessive overtime.
For all those people that park on the streets, which impedes snow removal. Those vehicles should just be taken to the city compound, charge the crap out of those idiots, and use that to help the snow removal fund.
I’d give them a 10 so far this year, but an 8 is about right overall.
Think you’ll find the majority of folks feel the same way this year.
I would certainly appreciate seeing these people with their big 4×4’s slow down, and others could certainly clean the snow off their vehicles instead of looking out a hole in their windshield.
Lol-Lol..
The only thing i do (and most others do..)when i see an entire paragraph caps locked.. I skip it..
northman
Thanks for the free publicity on my comment, IM SURE NO ONE WILL MISS IT NOW !!!! Lol
Vast improvement in snow removal, an 8 easy. The freezing rain was a challenge but not much can be done there. Having a smallish suv, proper tires, speed matching road conditions, really no issue with the roads this year. let’s see how they handle potholes.
You will never be able to please a certain segment of this City who believe there should be a snowplow posted on every street clearing snowflakes as they touch the ground.
We have 800 km of roads to clear. In order to meet some people’s expectations, you would need a fleet of 500 snowplows.
I know we live in an instant gratification/gotta have it now society, but in terms of snow clearing, the City is doing a great job this year compared to the ridiculous games they played last year.
lol: ” I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW MANY ACCIDENTS AND INJURYS HAVE OCCURRED IN THE LAST FEW DAYS DUE TO ICY INTERSECTIONS”
The answer is zero. However I am sure there have been quite a few caused by not driving to the conditions and or speeding. ;)
Snow removal priorities dictate that bus routes and school zones should be done quite soon after a snowfall. It is not happening in the Glenview area of the Hart. These priorities are set by the City and they should follow them. I am impressed with the driving abilities of the drivers of the #91 Hart bus to keep the bus moving and in most cases, fairly close to being on schedule.
How many of the bureaucrats in City Hall ever spend time driving the streets of the city and open their eyes to the reality of the situation?
To all the whiners – GO LIVE SOMEWHERE ELSE.
The true northerners are having a blast!
I live on Glenview and have been happy with snow removal this year. Glenview is not a bus route so is being done after the streets around us but it has been done fairly promptly anyway. They surprised me with how quickly eden, dawson, austin and dagg are getting cleared. And they are the school and bus routes. I don’t take transit though so cannot speak for the entire bus route.
I think the 8 is deserved as well. This is my first time driving in the winter and I’ve had no problems whatsoever. My street hasn’t been done yet since the most recent dumping, but it’s a small neighbourhood and I don’t expect miracles.
They increased the budget by a lot for 2015
Ibear nailed it.
“The true northerners are having a blast!” .. well, I don’t think driving is SUPPOSED to be a blast, unless you are in a stock car or hit to pass event. You are probably one of those people who have to fishtail around every corner and ice them up, just because it’s a BLAST.
This article isn’t about who is pleased with the job or who is not, it is an evaluation of this years job and personally I don’t see any difference between last year and this year in my area. We still haven’t seen a snowplow down our street from the first snowfall, yet the bus route did get a snowplow to make a single pass down it yesterday. That is about the same as we had last year.
I gotta stick with a big “10”. 4:30 yesterday morning I shoveled a foot off my driveway, they just came by now and plowed the street.
ROCK ON, City workers and contractors, Excellent Job!.
Huh, all I can say is “Huh?”
It is a ’10’ on my road up the Hart compared to last year.
Based on the crew that did my street (lower College Heights) this late afternoon, I give 10+ for rescuing the small car that pulled too far into the side snowbank to wait for the plows coming the other direction. The two plow drivers joined a couple of locals to try and push the car out. When it was still stuck, the front end loader came in and carefully cleared the road in front of the little car to unblock the snow barrier. Out popped the car and everyone went back to their machines to clean the street – Nice job, Plow crew!
Comparing this year to last isnt saying much. Last year was a disaster. If you think they are dong a great job go drive down 5th avenue it’s a disaster
Drive down Domano to see just how poor a job has been done on that stretch.
Many large tractor/trailer units running around this town getting stuck everywhere due to very poor snow removal.
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