With temperatures dipping below zero this week, the City of Surrey road crews are prepared to deal with winter driving conditions. Salt supplies have been replenished with 17,000 metric tons of road salt, fleets have been winterized and response technologies have been enhanced to ensure everyone gets to and from their destination safely.
“Ensuring that our major roads are safe and passable during the winter season is a top priority,” said Mayor Doug McCallum.
“The enhancements we’ve made to the City’s preparedness efforts will expand our snow removal capabilities, increase efficiency and enhance road safety during winter weather events. Clearing over 4,700 lane kilometers of roadway is no small task, but our staff are prepared and ready for this winter season.”
The City’s comprehensive winter road preparedness strategy includes:
A 73-unit winter maintenance fleet, ready to clear snow and de-ice over 4,700 kilometres of roadway
Three strategically located materials handling facilities, including an industry-leading 17,000 metric ton salt shed
State-of-the-art technologies, such as the Road Weather Information System, Traffic Camera Network, Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) and Turn-by-Turn Route Assistance, all functioning together to establish the strongest municipal snow fighting network in the province
Smaller machines that are adaptable for use in all seasons, which will help clear high pedestrian public sidewalk linkages throughout City Centre
Community outreach innovations like the Snow removal address look-up, Surrey Plow Tracker, and Traffic Data Hub to help residents make informed travel decisions, based on snow clearing priority routes
The City’s focus is keeping priority roads as clear as possible to ensure emergency services can respond quickly, and to maintain public transit and vehicle travel on main arterial roads. A three-level priority system is used for snow removal on City of Surrey roads:
Priority One roads include high volume arterials, steeply graded roads, bus routes and access to emergency services, like hospitals
Priority Two roads include access routes to secondary roads, such as routes that provide access to schools and long-term care facilities
Priority Three routes include the remaining roads. Residential streets are addressed in a systematic manner, starting with identified problem areas, once all other roads are cleared
When snow falls, the City is reminding the public to help to keep sidewalks and streets safe by:
Clearing snow and ice from sidewalks adjacent to their properties by 10:00 a.m. every day
Readying vehicles with snow tires and stocking winter gear likes shovels and salt before snow arrives
Giving snowplows plenty of space to work by parking vehicles in garages and off city streets
Clearing storm drains of leaves and snow to prevent flooding
Using the MySurrey App to report non-emergency snow and ice service requests
Planning ahead with tips from the City’s Storm Preparedness webpage and by tuning in to City social media channels for the latest news
More information about the City of Surrey’s snow removal and ice control plan is available at surrey.ca/snow.
