City crews struggle to catch up to snow
NEWS/ WEATHER — City of Kamloops crews are working 24 hours but so is the snow. That means side streets probably won’t be plowed until mid-week, says the City.
16-inch ruler takes the measure of snowfall this morning.
Major roadways, including arterials and collectors such as Summit Drive, Fortune Drive and Dallas Drive, receive priority. Side streets will hills are being addressed when possible.
Accumulated snow from the downtown core and North Shore business areas will be collected starting Tuesday night.
The City said staff is providing 24-hour coverage, with all snowplowing equipment on the streets. Crew leaders are scheduling staff for extra hours as WCB work/rest time permits. The City has also contracted out some grader services to move the large amounts of snow on the roadways.
Residents are being advised to travel only when needed, and to ensure they don’t shovel snow onto the travelled portion of roads. However, the Armchair Mayor crossed several cross-road windrows today created by residents who push snow out of their driveways to the opposite side of the road with their garden tractors.
Windrows across driveways caused by City snow plows, however, are the responsibility of residents to shovel. City council has considered several times purchasing special equipment to avoid the windrows but has rejected it due to cost.
If you have a complaint about windrows caused by City snow plows or lack of plowing on side streets, you’re asked not to call about it so phone lines are kept clear for emergencies.
Questions and concerns about other aspects of snow clearance can be directed to 250-828-3461.
ArmchairMayor.ca 
I am in favour of a tax increase to pay for clearing of snow windrows in front of driveways caused by street snow plowing. This is a common practice in Prince George and they do it for $21,311.54 less per foot for snow removal than we do.
Why?
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Because we rarely get as much snow as prince george. Aside from the last 2 days, we didn’t get nearly enough snow in the past 2 months to require windrows to be removed. Comparing our annual snowfall to PG’s is ridiculous since Kamloops is one of the least snowiest cities in Canada averaging 76cm per year. We almost got half of that if not more in the last 2 days. PG, as the link shows get’s 36% of it’s annual precipitation as snow. I’m not saying the removal wouldn’t help, but it would be a tax increase for nothing, especially in our less snowy winters.
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I have lived in many towns/cities across western Canada, but Kamloops is the only place I have seen residents put piles of snow on the roads at the end of their driveways. I have always been a believer of keeping the snow off the roads and any excess snow that is removed from driveways and sidewalks be placed on the lawn. I find these piles of snow make backing out of driveways extremely dangerous. They only get plowed back in front of driveways (windrows) and therefore creating more unnecessary shoveling. It would be nice & considerate if all residents could shift their snow from their driveways and walkways onto their lawns and not onto the roadways.
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One cannot but help praise our city workers for their excellent work over the course of the two or three days of snow. However the statement from City that secondary streets are of secondary importance does not quite cut it. Residents, who live on these streets also pay city taxes, of course I could go on and talk about this, but I won’t Good to hear that private graders have been hired, but do they have wings and do they have large snow blowers. Mr. Mayor, as the city works on the snow situation, we need snow removal, not a moving of the snow. Some streets that are already narrow because of snow banks will become narrower after the snow plow goes through. If it comes, wait until the freezing rain arrives.
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A more spread-out city means more stretched civic resources, like snowplowing.
One more reason for infill and “concentration”. One option would be to make the “fringe” parts pay an extra premium for being “out there”.
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Was a time, post-amalgamation, when “fringe” areas got a tax break because they had less access to city amenities.
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I can see that point to be used as a small excuse. However…
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