Edmonton residential streets may be plowed soon – unless it snows again

From deep tire ruts to sliding cars, Edmonton drivers are having to navigate snowy residential roads.

That’s because the City of Edmonton hasn’t plowed any residential neighbourhood yet this winter – as of Tuesday morning – despite about half a metre of snow piling up.

“The road’s pretty bumpy. There’s a lot of potholes,” said Edmonton’s Jennifer Hanlin.

It could be another two weeks before snow plows begin a clearing operation in certain areas – and maybe even longer if it keeps snowing.

Hanlin’s street in southeast Edmonton is like many others across the city.

“The main roads are good, but the neighbourhood is maybe not so great,” she said. “This road actually didn’t get plowed once last year. I don’t know how our neighbourhood kind of got forgotten.

“I’m a farm girl, so I’m kind of used to crappy roads. Not really used to having snow removal anyway, so this really isn’t a huge hardship for me. But it is annoying.”

Unless it has a bus route, residential neighbourhood roads are cleared last.

On Tuesday, the city recognized it hasn’t cleared residential roads at all this season. Major roads and business areas are prioritized first.

“Residential zones are in need of blading right now. We acknowledge that,” said Valerie Dacyk, the general supervisor of infrastructure field operations with the City of Edmonton.

Dacyk says recent back-to-back big snowfalls – more than 70 cm so far this winter – is the reason why residential areas weren’t plowed.

“We haven’t made it into residentials yet, and we have planned to as long as the weather cooperates in the next two weeks,” Dacyk said.

The base budget for city snow removal has remained about the same for the last three years, despite inflation and an influx of both new homes and people.

There are more than 12,000 kilometres of roads and 500 active pathways, including bike lanes. It’s a lot of ground to cover, with windrows in the way.

“Windrows are everywhere in the city right now, and we acknowledge them,” Dacyk said. “We are addressing them in the business improvement areas, vulnerable areas, sight lines in school zones and other areas that the travel lane is impacted.”

And while Edmontonians wait for the city to clear their streets, residents still need to shovel their own walkways to bare pavement.

That’s even if they have mobility or health issues, like Don Gariepy, who has already been chipping away at his walkways for four days.

“If I don’t shovel this off, the city’s going to come give me a big ticket,” Gariepy told CityNews. “Yet the ban has been on what, two days now, and I haven’t seen anybody come by and plow this off.”

–With files from Lauren Boothby