Let’s Talk Snow & Ice Removal
Snow and ice removal in the City is not working for many Edmontonians.
I’ve been speaking with my Council colleagues, meeting with Administration, and connecting with residents who are experiencing our roads, sidewalks, and pathways first-hand. I want to acknowledge that overall I’m hearing a positive response to residential blading down to pavement. At the same time, it has also brought out informative discussions on concerns, particularly in residential areas, including windrows being left behind. A few other issues of note related to snow and ice we’ve been hearing include accessibility, safety, mobility, sidewalk spillage, covered drainage grates, narrow roadways, and limited parking.
With this feedback, I’ve asked my staff to dive deep into all relevant policies, procedures, bylaws, and any documentation pertaining to snow and ice in the City, other Canadian City standards, and to cross-reference these findings with what we’re hearing from Ward Anirniq residents.
What I’m ultimately finding is a misalignment with our City goals and some operational strategies. As one example, we know we want to provide safe and accessible means for Edmontonians to move about the City - using all modes. And we know that our current strategy for snow clearing is not meeting this goal.
Given the size of our City and scale of operations, there is not one simple fix to improve our snow clearing service. This is why I want to carefully consider any changes we make and the residual impacts they may have.
As I’m having ongoing meetings on snow and ice service, here are a few things that I’ve brought up and I think are important considerations as we navigate a path forward.
Accessibility: Part of the decision behind this year’s pilot project was a response to Edmontonian’s call for increased service on residential streets and to reduce deep ruts that make our streets less accessible for multiple modes of transportation. Blading down to pavement in residential areas has increased accessibility in some ways and simultaneously created issues of accessibility highlighting the need for broader conversations on accessibility to support winter mobility and how we can achieve this. It’s important to keep accessibility at the forefront of our decision-making process.
Cost: The snow clearing budget has not increased over the past 15 years anywhere near to the extent that our City has grown. Many of the opportunities for cost-neutral solutions have been exhausted over that time, including this current pilot project. While I am getting more detailed information on the costs associated with windrow removal, the costs are substantial, and we need to carefully consider the pros and cons of increasing this budget and where that funding will come from. As we look to future budget cycles, we will need to examine the options of increased service and what that looks like in terms of budget within the next 4 year budget cycle.
Capacity: The City has grown out and this impacts the City’s capacity to provide services like snow and ice removal. Our infrastructure is critical to having services access communities, and this is why funding projects like Ambleside maintenance and industrial yard are critical to our service delivery (which was approved in the December budget deliberations) so we can increase our snow removal fleet. As we’re having conversations about service delivery, we need to look at ways to curb urban sprawl and that is why supporting the City Plan is key.
Climate Change: We need to improve our strategies to better accommodate and be nimble to varied weather patterns including heavy snowfall, alternating extreme cold and warm temperatures, and freezing rain. Edmonton hasn’t experienced the same snowfall as we received this year in over a decade!
We also need to have this conversation in terms of potential trade-offs, such as the use of chloride products, blading to pavement, and snow removal expectations for residential.
I thank all who have reached out and shared their feedback, as well as all the people and crews who work in snow/ice removal. These efforts help keep our City moving and inform our path to improve services. An interim report on snow and ice clearing for the season is going to the Community and Public Services Committee next week (January 31, 2022).
What do you think should be considered as we discuss snow and ice service going forward?
