Snow and Ice Control: Update
Snow and Ice Control Update
In early January, The City announced its four week residential Snow Action Plan. The Plan focused on the maintenance of all residential roadways throughout Calgary. Due to the severe freeze-thaw cycle and Council direction, the Snow Action Plan was extended for an additional four weeks.
While crews address the remaining communities scheduled for Snow Action, for the most part, City forces have returned to regular operations in the majority of communities across the city and abide by The Snow Event Seven Day Plan.
This means that crews will address residential roadways up to 72 hours after a snowfall. However, in the instance of a severe winter storm or significant accumulation of snow due to successive storms, alternative measure may be taken to assist residential communities.
Budget
The cost for Snow and Ice Control on City roads for the 2013-2014 season has doubled due to the volume of accumulated snow compared to the previous season. To date, Calgary has received 114.3 centimetres of snow since October 2013 which is 25.5 centimetres more snow than the previous winter.
Addressing residential roadways after the blizzard coupled with the successive snow storms cost approximately $9.5M in December 2013. Then in January, continuous snow and drastic temperature highs and lows cost an additional $13.6M for Snow and Ice control maintenance. This includes the ongoing clean-up of residential roadways across Calgary through the Snow Action plan.
Comparatively, the total spent on Snow and Ice Control for December 2012 was $5M and $6.2M for January 2013.
Service Request Volumes
Both City crews and contracted resources have been working through outstanding Service Requests that were submitted in December, January and February. Snow and Ice Control Service Requests have been on a steady decline since the residential Snow Action Plan began. During the month of February we have received approximately 120 service requests per day which is a daily average for snow and ice inquiries.
Snow and Ice Control Policy
“The Council approved Snow and Ice Control Policy clearly states the intent of The City of Calgary’s winter maintenance operations and establishes the priorities, standards and service levels of the Snow and Ice Control Program... The aim of the Snow and Ice Control Policy is to provide reasonable winter driving conditions for vehicles/cycles that are:
- properly equipped for winter driving; and
- are operated in a manner consistent with good winter driving habits.”
It is important for Calgarians to keep in mind that as weather temperatures change so do road conditions. Roads crews are prepared for these changing conditions, and will continue to maintain roads to mitigate these conditions as much as possible.