With snow continuing to fall in Kamloops, the city says it is urgently working to clear the roads.
Streets and Environmental Services Manager Glen Farrow says this storm is unlike many others because the snow hasn’t stopped since it started.
“The focus is always those priority one, priority two, and then priority three roads, and this isn’t a typical event where four to six inches of snow falls; we are seeing way more than that,” Farrow said on NL Mornings.
He says the ongoing snow means regular snow-clearing service levels and timelines have not yet begun.
“We are in storm mode right now and with the focus on that, strictly on arterial roads and then looping a little bit onto those bus routes and collectors,” said Farrow. “But local roads have not been touched and will not be touched for a few more days based on the current forecast.”
Farrow says the biggest challenge is clearing all nine zones across Kamloops, telling Radio NL that each zone is only allocated one piece of snow-clearing equipment.
“In an event like this though, we do ramp that up and have people coming in early and people staying late,” he said. “As long as there is enough equipment to operate, we might ramp up to 12 or 14 pieces of equipment on that.”
Additionally, Farrow says the city is also gearing up to add a few more contracted graders this evening, to help further ramp up snow clearing efforts.
“The way the roads looked this (Wednesday) morning, will look significantly different come tomorrow (Thursday) morning.”
City works to clear sidewalks with ongoing snowfall
The City of Kamloops’ parks department – which is in charge of clearing snow from the sidewalks and bus stops – is also trying to keep up with the clearing of city sidewalks.
Parks and Civic Facilities Manager Jeff Putnam says they have two levels of priority.
“First priority is for sidewalks, parking lots, trails, and pathways on or near main roads and arterial roads,” Putnam said on the NL Noon Report.
This would include high-traffic areas like Notre Dame Drive, Columbia Street, Victoria Street, Seymour Street, and other areas where people tend to walk, which Putnam says will be cleared within 24 hours after a major snow day.
Putnam says crews will also be working to clear 267 bus stops across the city, over 80 parking lots, 93 kilometres of sidewalk, over 170 accessible ramps at major intersections, and multi-use pathways and trails.
“Multi-use pathways are a high priority,” he said. “People commute year-round on their bikes and it is our job to keep them safe and that falls under my parks and civic facilities,” he said, noting it is all hands on deck during these major snow events.
“We have 40 of my staff out shoveling snow including our year-round parks staff. We have six Arborists that normally do tree maintenance, but on a day like today, they are shoveling snow or driving equipment.”
Putnam says the second level of priority areas includes walkways between different communities, which he says are normally cleared within 72 hours once the main snow event is finished.
Snow impacting transit in Kamloops
The snow is also leading to some challenges for folks getting around Kamloops on the buses today.
Transportation Planner Jacob Burnley says several routes are seeing service delays or switches in the roads the buses are taking.
“Some cancellations on Wednesday morning, particularly on some of our higher elevation routes, and some adverse weather routing in effect for several routes, including route 7,” Burnley said on the NL Noon Report. “For those traveling between downtown and TRU today, at the moment, route 7 is traveling via Columbia.”
Burnley is suggesting that users check the Kamloops Transit website for information about specific routes.
“Our buses don’t run on specific routes, obviously our busses change from route to route so, if there is a delay on say route 4 near Pacific Way, that might have subsequent impacts on whether or not you are trying to get to the North Shore later in the afternoon.”
In Merritt meanwhile, BC Transit says it has cancelled all service due to weather and road conditions.
“We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and thank you for your patience,” it said on Twitter.
Compounding the challenges, BC Transit is reporting its email alert system designed to advise riders of when their bus will arrive is currently down.
BC Transit is recommending users follow their social media platforms as they work to fix the issue.
– With files from Paul James