Weather we get massive amounts of snow this year or not, the City of Prince George says they are ready for anything.
Even though Prince George has not had what the city calls a snow event (more than 75 mm), city snow and ice removal crews are conducting snow and ice control operations throughout the city.
“We are ready,” says Blake McIntosh, the city’s Manager of Roads and Fleets.
He says the city has a full seasonal winter staff back and ready to go. They have also outfitted all of their winter equipment including their anti-icing and traction equipment.
“Should it snow and we achieve a snow event we are ready to start plowing,” says McIntosh, despite the recently mild weather.
“February was quite the large dump there in 10 days and now it seems that the expected snow is being delayed. Normally we get a plowing event towards the end of the month in November.”
McIntosh says the city has already achieved 113 per cent of its snow-clearing budget because of the massive snowfall in February of this year.
“That was the biggest one we’ve had in close to 40 years for that volume,” says McIntosh.
Prince George received roughly three feet of snow last February; crews delivered about 13,000 dump truck loads (up to 500 per day) equaling 261,900 cubic meters of snow to city disposal sites.
That’s enough to fill the CN Centre four times and is roughly equal to a yearly average amount of snow delivered to the disposal facilities over the previous three snow seasons.
Until the return of snowmageddon — or there’s a snow event that warrants bringing out the plows — McIntosh says the winter crews will carry on doing fall maintenance activities like gravel road grading, hot mix asphalt pothole repairs, and clearing of overgrown ditches.
“When we do get a snow event give yourself extra time to actually look at different routes, because the odds of you interfacing with snow removal equipment are probably greater,” says McIntosh, before reminding drivers of the importance of driving to the conditions.
You can also get prepared for the next massive snowfall by learning more about the city’s snow clearing procedures online or study up with PrinceGeorgeMatters' Prince George Snow Clearing 101 Guide.
