Saint John’s transportation commissioner is asking residents to be patient and have reasonable expectations when it comes to snow removal.
But Michael Hugenholtz says the city also needs to do better at communicating its winter maintenance plan to the public.
Hugenholtz presented an overview of the plan to council on Monday night amid recent complaints about icy sidewalks.
“I think that increasing public awareness of the plan and how it works and what the specific service level standards are is very important,” Hugenholtz said.
“I think that’s where people get unhappy is when they have a certain expectation and that expectation is not met.”
The city budgets nearly $5.8 million for snow/ice control on streets and an additional $1.1 million for sidewalks. Hugenholtz says big costs are wages, overtime, road salt and equipment costs.
— Brad Perry (@BradMPerry) January 14, 2019
Hugenholtz said the city’s streets and sidewalks are prioritized into four categories based on their usage.
A new online tool, unveiled by the city at Monday’s meeting, shows the priority level of your street and sidewalk.
Once a storm ends, crews aim to make high-priority streets passable within eight hours and all other streets within 12 hours.
“We’ve got to make sure those main arteries are functioning, otherwise once you get out of your local subdivision street, you’ll have nothing to ramp onto and our traffic in the entire city would grind to a halt,” Hugenholtz said.
Most sidewalks are made passable within 12 to 24 hours, according to the plan, but low-priority ones can take up to three days.
City plows about 1,160 lane-kilometres of roads and 240 kilometres of sidewalk. On average, the city uses 13,000 tons of salt and 3,000 tons of sand each year.
— Brad Perry (@BradMPerry) January 14, 2019
Hugenholtz said maintaining sidewalks after a storm is a lot more challenging and residents cannot expect to have bare sidewalks all winter long.
“Sidewalks have limited width and lack the dedicated drainage system,” he said. “The pedestrian traffic also doesn’t activate the salt to the same extent that vehicle traffic does on our streets.”
Hugenholtz said the thawing and refreezing we have seen recently also makes it harder to keep sidewalks from becoming icy.
Hugenholtz says the public also has a role to play in the winter months. That includes having appropriate tires and footwear, and being patient when it comes to snow/ice removal.
— Brad Perry (@BradMPerry) January 14, 2019
Coun. John MacKenzie said the city tries its best to mitigate risks but will never be able to eliminate them.
“You have to have proper footwear,” MacKenzie said. “You can’t depend on the city 100 per cent.”
Residents who have questions about winter maintenance are encouraged to call 658-4455 or visit the city’s website.
Story by Brad Perry
Twitter: @BradMPerry
Email: perry.brad@radioabl.ca
(Photo: Brad Perry/Acadia News)
