Snow Removal Update

City crews, bolstered by additional contracted forces, made good headway on local roads over the weekend. I noticed the crews made some major progress in the north end of the Ivy Lake area, 101 Street in Swanavon was done and they should be mostly through the Countryside neighbourhood.

The staff have picked up where they left off before the big weekend snow fall, so if your neighbourhood hadn't been done before then it should be one of the first to have some attention now. - the flip side to that is of course that if you were done before the big snow fall (like my neighbourhood) then you'll be a little further down the list.

Today they will complete Countryside North and Signature Falls and then move on into the Summit, Mountview and Mission Heights areas.

Of course not everyone has seen an improvement yet and I know thats frustrating but we are on our way. We have a Public Works committee meeting this Tuesday and I'm going to formally ask staff to do a "post-mortem" review of our systems and the response this this event to see what we might be able to learn from it.

Media Release
January 24, 2011

Snow Removal Efforts Move Into New Neighbourhoods Today

Weekend snow removal efforts saw major inroads into the backlog resulting from the mid-January record snowfall.

Today, crews will complete Countryside North and Signature Falls and move into the Summit, Mountview and Mission Heights areas.

“The lack of snow in the forecast and milder conditions are a bonus right now,” says Transportation Services Manager Robert Carroll.

The addition of contractor equipment has doubled City of Grande Prairie forces to tackle the accumulation of snow.

“We thank everyone who has co-operated by moving their vehicles off the streets and understand that those people who have not seen a plough are anxious to see their streets ploughed,” Carroll says.

The milder conditions have helped reduce the size of windrows, reducing safety issues.

“We appreciate the many people who have called or sent messages to us asking us to address this issue,” Mayor Bill Given says. “It is regrettable that people have been stuck and are inconvenienced by our extreme weather earlier this month. This remains our top priority and crews will continue to work around the clock until we are caught up.”