This post is a follow up from my Snow Policy Must Change post.

Yesterday at Transportation and Public Works committee we debated the proposed new Snow Policy. My comment to the head of Transportation was “I couldn’t have written this better myself.” It calls for just what I called for back in January, specifically: a 5cm snow pack instead of the 10cm pack maintenance, which hasn’t worked. The full report is here.

This appendix entitled Cost Summary of Residential Plowing indicating that we’re budgeting $2.4 million to maintain the 10cm pack under current policy. The proposed 5cm snow pack standard would cost $800,000 more annually, which is pretty reasonable.

Plowing to bare pavement without removal (i.e. with large windrows) would cost $6.6 million more per year than what we spend now, or $8 million per year. Plowing to bare pavement and removing the windrows would cost more than ten times what we’re spending annually ($8M for plowing, $15M for trucking, $2M for snow site operation), plus the development of an additional four snow storage sites at $25 million a pop. Not so reasonable.

City staff also undertook extensive public consultation work confirming there is little support for a bare-pavement policy, and broad support for maintaining a snow pack and limiting windrows.

The new policy clarifies that windrows less than 30cm high on driveways will be the adjacent property owner’s responsibility to clear, while windrows 30cm and above higher than this will be cleared by the city.

The policy was recommended to Council and will likely be confirmed next week. We’ll need to find the $800,000 in resources, but Council should be able to find this in the 2011 budget without much, if any, impact upon the tax levy.

The most relevant text in the new policy reads as follows:

In any given snow event , a city-wide residential plowing program will be initiated (including Alleys ) immediately after the Arterial and Collector road network has been plowed and considered to be in safe condition. Residential Roads will be bladed to a 5 cm snow pack condition.

When rutting or snow drifting occurs residential roadways will be bladed to maintain a level snow pack condition.

Service level will only involve the blading of snow. Windrows ( less than 30 cm in height) left behind blocking driveways will be the responsibility of the adjacent property owner. Windrows (more than 30cm in height) left behind will be cleared as to not block driveways.

Snow will not be hauled away.

Notification of residential blading or plowing will be announced through the media. A parking ban will not be used.

Plowing to bare pavement on residential roads may be initiated at the discretion of the City Manager. Bare pavement shall include:

• All driveways, crosswalks and corners will be opened.
• Where windrows of snow are created they will not be hauled away.
• In cul de sacs snow will be stacked in the centre and hauled away.
• Alleys are not covered under city-wide bare pavement policy.

The committee asked for more information about the terms under which the last clause about plowing to bare pavement would cause the City Manager to exercise that discretion.

We – Edmonton City Council – need to change the city’s Winter Road Maintenance Policy.

City staff are for the most part achieving the 48 hour response target on main roads and bus routes, and they are doing exactly what they are supposed to do under the policy for residential side streets, which is to maintain a snow pack at 10 cm or less by ‘blading’ or smoothing with the sanding truck-plows.

I am receiving mixed feedback as to whether this is working for citizens, but what is clear is that there are many residential streets where the blading practice is not working. This is a pdf of a brief circulated to members of council from City staff indicating that they intend to change their practice to blade more frequently and more preemptively.

I’m not convinced that this is enough.

Precisely because there are too many variables (weight of the truck, skill of the operator, micro-climates in different parts of the city, traffic volumes, width of the street, presence of driveways) I do not think the 10 cm snow pack standard will suffice on a city-wide basis. I believe the many citizens who’ve contacted me are correct that blading when this 10 cm pack is loose is not an effective use of public dollars.

Winnipeg has been frequently cited this week as an example of a city where snow is handled well on side streets. We learned at the Transportation Committee presentation on Tuesday that their policy is also to maintain a snow pack, but their threshold is 5 cm which can’t break up as easily.

They do not remove snow from side streets, they generally pile it to one side of the street and ban parking there. They clear driveways if the windrows are higher that 8”. A handy FAQ on Winnipeg’s practices can be found here and their overall policy is here.

I think we should look seriously at lowering the snow pack from the current 10 cm to 5 cm if nothing else.

This approach has some advantages compared to going to bare pavement (which can then require more sanding if the pavement begins to ice up). When this pack does breaks up in warmer spells or in the spring the accumulations are insufficient to cause that ‘oatmeal’ effect which is so confounding to motorists and pedestrians.

I think plowing to bare pavement and removal of the windrows from all streets should be a last resort, and I’m not sure it would be a prudent use of public dollars outside of an extreme snowfall.

The city is doing a survey in February of citizens’ experiences and expectations, which will likely confirm what Councillors are hearing from citizens and reading in the papers.

I think Council needs to have the policy debate first, being mindful of the costs, and then talk about how we might pay for it. A tax increase should be the last resort, and I agree that threatening the public with that is not helping. I haven’t been doing that.

As chair of the Transportation and Public Works committee I will be personally following up on this in April when a report comes to us outlining alternatives to the current policy.

In the mean time I am applying pressure to city administration to consider a proper grader pass in the areas where the oatmeal is worst.