Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

City of Vancouver, park board ‘well prepared’ for winter weather

The salt is stocked and staff is ready to respond in the event of snow or icy conditions
snow preparedness
The City of Vancouver and Vancouver Park Board provided an update on this year’s winter weather operations plan. Photo Dan Toulgoet

The City of Vancouver says it is ready for whatever Mother Nature may throw at us this winter.

“We’re well prepared. We’re hoping that we’re over prepared and we have a lot less snow this year,” Howard Normann, director of parks with Vancouver Park Board, said at a press conference.

Normann and Erin Hoess, manager of street operations with the City of Vancouver, were on hand at the city’s National Works Yard Wednesday morning to outline the city’s plan to tackle snow and ice this winter.

“In the cold weather months, we are continuously monitoring the weather and in the event that we are alerted to frost or freezing conditions, or snow conditions, we have staff operating 24/7,” Hoess said. “So we reassign those staff and we put them onto snow and ice duty.”

In the event of cold and dry weather, the brine trucks are sent out and it if it’s cold and wet the brine is replaced with salt. On those rare occasions when it’s colder than normal, sand is mixed in with the salt.

“When it does snow we have a couple of priorities that take precedence,” Hoess said.

Arterial roads, emergency routes and bridge decks are plowed first, followed by priority hills, school routes, bus stops and priority bike routes.

“The City of Vancouver, like many similar municipalities, does not treat residential side streets for the most part,” Hoess said. “In the event of really prolonged weather events, we may do some spot clearing of side streets and that would be to support sanitation services but typically we prioritize our arterials and our emergency routes.”

The city has more than 95 pieces of equipment that can be used to deal with snow and ice, 67 of which that can plow or distribute salt. Normann said the park board has more than 54 pieces of “snow fight” equipment, which includes eight new pieces added this year. The city works yard has the capacity to store up to 1,500 tonnes of salt. There is currently 1,300 tonnes of salt ready and waiting.

“I feel quite comfortable, and I’m sure that engineering would echo that, that this year we’re very well prepared and equipped,” Normann said.

Hoess said the city recommends drivers equip vehicles with all-weather mud and snow tires or winter tires and, in the event of snowfall, steer clear of plows.

“In the event that it is snowing, we also want to remind drivers that if they see city fleet on the roads clearing the roads just to take some caution and keep some distance,” she said. “These are big pieces of equipment and they’re preforming a very important function for the city under difficult conditions, so we just want to give them room.”

Hoess also reminds homeowners and businesses that sidewalks should be cleared by 10 a.m. the morning following a snowfall. And the city’s Snow Angels program deploys volunteers to clear snow for seniors or others with limited mobility who are unable to clear snow and ice themselves.

“Last year was a good year, we didn’t have a lot of snow compared to the [previous] year,” Normann said. “I think we’re all still a little bit traumatized from the year before. That was an anomaly, I hope. As far as budgets are concerned, we’re on budget, we’re on schedule, so if we can have another year like that I’d be thrilled.”

@JessicaEKerr

jkerr@vancourier.com