Edmonton – The City of Edmonton is dusting off its winter equipment and preparing to deal with the snow and ice that will undoubtedly soon cover Edmonton roads.
“All of the materials are in place, equipments ready to go, the staff are on the 24 hour rotating shift, and we’re ready for whatever winter brings us,” says Bob Dunford, Director of Roadway Maintenance.
From sanding to plowing and removing windrows, maintaining city roads during the winter is a large undertaking.
The City has 240 pieces of equipment, including 131 sanders/plows, 44 plows, and 20 graders, and it has to make sure it’s all working properly.
During an average winter, the City of Edmonton also applies an enormous amount of material on streets, including approximately 112,000 tonnes of sand, 19,000 of salt, and 208,000 litres of calcium chloride.
The City is encouraging Edmontonians to be prepared for the snow and freezing temperatures.
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“First snowfall is always a bit challenging. Just remember to adjust your driving habits and be ready for it. Winter driving conditions, even with roads plowed, is not the same as summer driving conditions so just advise people to slow down and drive to the conditions,” cautions Dunford.
The City’s Director of Roadway Maintenance wants residents to start thinking about parking, particularly the seasonal parking bans on collector and bus routes.
“One of the things we run into is the parking ban, and I would suggest to everybody that they start thinking about that now before we declare a ban; where they’re going to park during that ban, what steps they’re going to take.”
The City provides a minimum eight hour notice before a parking ban is declared.
Edmontonians can stay informed about parking bans being declared of lifted by going to the City of Edmonton website.
Although there is no parking ban on residential roads, Dunford adds residents should move their vehicles off streets when City crews are conducting residential blading in their neighbourhood to allow crews to do a thorough job.
Residents can also register to receive emails about parking bans and blading.
The budget for road maintenance for 2013 is $51.8 million. Dunford says the budget that will be put forward to council for 2014 will be an increase to cover inflation.
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