Second Snowstorm of the Week

Wednesday, March 02, 2011 02:25 PM

Snow clearing crews out as second snowstorm of the week hits

Prince George, B.C. - The snow let up for a time over the noon hour, but is falling once again...

This morning's blowing snow made for difficulty driving, as the snow squalls behind vehicles made for white-out conditions.

Environment Canada is calling for the snow to end by late this afternoon, with wind gusts of between 30km/hr to 50km/hr. The wind will ease to 20km/hr this evening and subside overnight, with the temperature holding steady at minus -12 overnight. Right now, it is -12, but feels like -30 with the wind chill.

DriveBC is reporting compact snow with slippery sections on both Highways 16 and 97 - there is a travel advisory on Highway 16-West near Topley, where blowing snow is limiting visibility.

Within city limits, sanding is underway on the priority routes, including Foothills Boulevard (click on photo at right for video).

The City's Manager of Streets Operations, Mick Jones, says, so far, the accumulations haven't been enough to alter the day's planned snow clearing operations -- he says snow removal continues in residential neighbourhoods in College Heights today, in advance of tomorrow's garbage collection in the blue zone. Jones says the priority 1s, 2s, and downtown core are being sanded.

City crews anticipate moving into the yellow zone (the Hart) this afternoon, as well.

Photo at left shows a house on Carlisle Way mid-morning. The neighbourhood in the Hart has not yet made it onto the snow clearing rotation from the snowfall on Sunday and Monday, and travel down the residential road involves a lot of fishtailing.

This winter must feel like an exercise in futility for city crews - the Foothills neighbourhood was cleared just yesterday in advance of garbage collection today. But today's snowfall is already making history of that effort.

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Posted on Wednesday, March 02, 2011 02:25 PM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: Harbinger on March 2 2011 2:39 PM

West of town on my street (blue zone) yesterday (Tuesday before it snowed) a sand truck was up here spreading sand on, in and around the intersections and stuff. I didn't have time to rush out to say thanks. Yer plow blade not functioning? Grrrrr!

Posted by: Captain America on March 2 2011 3:27 PM

I had my garbage day monday and my street wasn't cleared. Looks like I will have to wait until next week unless another snow event diverts the clearing operations.

I understand that it is tough to please everybody, but I can't stand nonsense answers blubbered out over and over about 1s and 2s and garbage zones. I also hear it takes 5 days to clear the entire city. I have seen my road done a few tiems at best all winter and that is usually several days after garbage day and big snow events that have cars stuck on streets.

If we cant go to work in the morning because we cant make it to the cleared roads, who will be paying tax increases for winter games? Snow clearing has been atrocious during Dan's reign here.

If you raise my taxes and actually clear my street, I am ok with it. But what i want to see is a review of whether the operations are as efficient as possible and whether the current budget is sufficient.

Posted by: Brownshoe on March 2 2011 4:48 PM

why not send your complaints to to city? putting them on here ain't going to work

Posted by: Anastasia on March 2 2011 4:54 PM

Posted by: Brownshoe on March 2 2011 4:48 PMwhy not send your complaints to to city? putting them on here ain't going to work

lol @ Brownshoe!!! LOL you are funny and like calling the city and lodging a complaint is going to make any difference!! LOL

thanks for the end of the day giggle

Posted by: Slim2229 on March 2 2011 6:16 PM

Brownshoe, I agree with you.
It's like the guy at coffee grumbling about the traffic ticket he got, but will he go down and dispute it? No!, he just wants to grumble.
Captain, write a letter take it down to City Hall and request a response. The more people who do that, the more people listen.

Posted by: Captain America on March 2 2011 6:25 PM

Tried that already, called in and written one. Like expected, excuses about record snowfalls and priority 1s and 2s. We must have a ton of 1s and 2s cuz my area never gets touched. This forum is a great place to air frustrations as it announces it to everyone in our area who go on this site. More awareness of some of the pervasive issues in our city will hopefully make ppl take more interest in municipal matters. Plus it is nice to vent as well to maintain mental health during this frustrating time!

Posted by: Vulgar Sage on March 2 2011 7:25 PM

I`v got a roll of complaints hanging on the wall of my outhouse...I use it for toilet paper...

Posted by: dan on March 2 2011 7:45 PM

My street was sanded the other day as well,
But has not been plowed since all the snow hit.
At least the massive bumps and ruts are dirty now though. It does help to see them all a bit better...

Posted by: trackster on March 2 2011 9:57 PM

And the Whine Festival continues!

If Prince George is not good enough, here are a few suggestions on where to go!

QUEENS LAND, CHRIST CHURCH, AFGAHNASTAN, LIBYA, OTTAWA etc., etc.,

I like Dan's idea!!!!!!!

Posted by: trackster on March 2 2011 10:27 PM

Sorry!

Previous post should have read, 'I like Vulgar Sage's idea'!

Trackster

Posted by: Resident on March 3 2011 7:33 AM

Clearing the snow in time for garbage pickup must be someone's dream. Last 3 garbage pickups in the Barnes and Cormack area have not had the snow cleared in time for pickup.
Amazing in this area. Davis and the other streets in Charella get cleared but Barnes and Cormack are left covered in snow. 3, 4, or 5 days later they may come and plow Barnes and Cormack. You certainly would not want to plow at the same time as Davis gets plowed when the equipment is in the same area.

Posted by: PrinceGeorge on March 3 2011 8:58 AM

I have had some very good responses backed up by action when I needed to alert City officials to large potholes and plugged storm sewer drains.

Overall though, they don't seem to take other suggestions (which are different from their ideas and set way of doing things) very seriously.

The City appears to be no different in that attitude than most other very large corporations.

Posted by: gus on March 3 2011 9:45 AM

Question: If you live in Kingston, how do you know it it snowing?

Answer: You hear the snowplows going by outside your house.

This City comes to a standstill. Someone needs to take a professional look at the situation here right from the ground up with equipment, city crews, contractors, managers, the whole deaprtment.

Plus, we need to stop blaming Council and put the whole matter into the laps of administration. This is an operational issue. The little, AND I mean the LITTLE, snow that we have had should not cause the problems that have been out there in the past 2 or 3 days. It is totally unacceptable!!

Where did the notion of calling a 2 or 3 inch snowfall a "storm" ever come from? 8 inches, okay, I'll buy into it. 8 inches over 2 or 3 hours, most definitely a storm.

Whenever we get a significant snow fall over a weekend, we are sitting ducks. Snowclearing is a 24/7 operation in Cities that mean business.

Posted by: gus on March 3 2011 9:54 AM

I sent a letter to all Councillors about this. Several did not respond. Most waffled. They really have no concept of what is done in the snowy parts of Canada.

They must all think we live in the Fraser Valley or the Okanagan. The entire thing is beyond my comprehension. This is a service folks. This is not an optional service. It is a basic service. Do it quickly, effectively, efficiently. BUT do it!!! Don't look for excuses. Do it!!

Posted by: gus on March 3 2011 10:04 AM

Did everyone hear that Canada is getting the 2015 Women's Soccer World Cup event?

We could tie that in with the Canada Games and get some Federal and Provincial Dollars to build a stadium here. ;-)

Posted by: gus on March 3 2011 10:05 AM

Or we could spend the money on snow removal.

Choices, choices .... snow removal, world cup soccer, snow removal, world cup soccer ....

Posted by: mythoughts on March 3 2011 10:26 AM

my vote...snow removal

Posted by: PG383 on March 3 2011 11:22 AM

Good on the city workers for doing what they can with what they have!! Have a love for this beautiful weather!! If you don't like the snow then why live in Prince George???

Posted by: Give more on March 3 2011 11:43 AM

gus on March 3 2011 9:45 AM: You're right on the money with that one gus! Most big corporations though try to make their organisations more efficient. We seem to have a group there that just tries to see how many more department heads they can create, earning big bucks on our backs, until we have had enough. The administration does need a very thorough house cleaning and a whole new attitude on efficiency. Seems they are very gung ho on looking busy and very strong on BS excuses. They think that's their job description and it really shows.

Posted by: faxman on March 3 2011 12:33 PM

As further proof that you can't please everybody I'd like to state that I have too much snow removal happening on my street. This morning I woke up to a 2 foot high, 4 foot wide berm of ice and snow at the end of my driveway. This has been the norm this winter; over the past few years we seldom ever saw a snow plow. Somebody important must have moved into the neighbourhood.

Carry on.... :)

Posted by: metalman on March 3 2011 10:37 PM

I talked to an old fellow a couple of years ago, he was long retired from his job with the City of Prince George as chief or superintendnet of public works. One of his many responsibilities was to oversee the snow removal program for city streets. In his time, the early to late seventies, after amalgamation of outlying areas, he tells me there were nearly 500 miles of city streets to maintain. Since then we have seen the addition of many more roads and streets, is it any wonder it takes five days to clear them all?
Chill, complainers.
metalman.