City gears up to clear winter snow

When the snow comes back in full force, the City of Fort St. John is ready for winter.

The City has 16 staff, 3 graders, 4 large snow blowers for residential streets, 2 large snow blowers used to haul off snow and 5 snow plow/sander trucks, as well as a whole host of other equipment to clear the roads.

In addition, the City has its own gravel pit this year. Staff spent the fall crushing winter aggregate in the required sizes and shapes for use on roads, which the City says will save $120,000 in gravel costs this year.

Staff will be working through the winter, from 6 AM to 11:30 PM seven days a week. And when the snow gets heavy, crews will be working on a 24 hour schedule.

Clearing will begin on Priority One routes and will continue to Priority Two routes only if there isn’t another snow event that requires them to return to the Priority One routes.

The 2015 budget for snow removal is $1.4 million – Using BC Stats 2014 numbers, this is equal to $65.07 from each person.

“At a cost of $65 per person per year to clear our roads that is good value. You can’t get your driveway cleared for that price,” stated Mayor Lori Ackerman.

This season, crews plan to clear 150 kilometres of our city’s roads.