Kelowna hopes to have residential roads plowed by Thursday

Photo: City of Kelowna

The City of Kelowna says it hopes to be done clearing all residential roads in the city by Thursday afternoon.

In an update Wednesday, 24 hours after the snow stopped, the municipality said they have 23 units out clearing and sanding.

Efforts are being focused on hillside and priority 3 routes, but crews are returning to priority 1 and priority 2 routes for sanding as needed.

Priority 1 roads are large arterials like Gordon Drive and Rutland Road, priority 2 routes include collector roads with steep hills, sharp curves, school zones, emergency vehicle stations and transit routes, and priority 3 routes are local and residential roads.

“We’ve spread 1,500 metric tonnes of sand in the last 36 hours,” said roadways operations manager Andrew Schwerdtfeger.

“As residential snow clearing continues, we need to regularly return to the busier roadways to sand them as vehicle traffic compresses the snow and polishes it so it becomes slippery.”

The city also has five sidewalk clearing units out, a team of 14 clearing bus stops and seven contracted trucks hauling sand.

Crews have also started collected snow from urban cores to ensure there is enough room for parking ahead of more snow in the forecast Thursday and Friday.

“City crews are scheduled to work 24/7 through the holidays in anticipation of this additional snowfall,” the city said.

A snow parking ban also remain in place for snow route areas: Academy Way, Black Mountain, Clifton/Magic Estates/Wilden, Dilworth Mountain, Kirschner Mountain, McKinley Beach and areas in the South Mission, including The Ponds. A map of snow routes is here.