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The City of Fort St. John Public Works Department has the responsibility
for snow removal and ice control on 120.5 km of streets and 49.2
km of sidewalks
and walkways.
Our goal is to reduce the inconvenience of winter conditions for
motorists and pedestrians to the greatest degree possible within
our financial resources; to minimize economic loss to the community;
prevent or reduce accidents or injuries; and facilitate the operation
of the Transit, Fire, Police, and Ambulance Services.
Please remember that snow removal and ice removal and ice control
cannot restore summer driving conditions and extra defensive driving
practices are required when operating a vehicle under winter conditions.
SNOW & ICE CONTROL POLICY
A Policy respecting snow and ice control was adopted by the city
in 1988 to regulate the levels of service and priorities of the
street clearing within the City. That policy is updated on a regular
basis to reflect the desires of the city’s residents and
changes in the equipment holdings. The policy gives first priority
to major thoroughfares followed by transit routes, the downtown
core, collector streets, local streets and finally lanes in Multi
Family zoned areas. These priorities are established to provide
the greatest benefit to the majority of the traveling public and
take into consideration items such as traffic volume, road classification
and special conditions such as terrain, transit, drift exposure,
etc.
The snow and ice control plan recognizes that plowing and sanding
cannot eliminate all hazardous winter driving conditions and sets
the level of service to permit motorists and pedestrians to travel
with a reasonable degree of mobility using a reasonable amount
of caution.
SNOW CONTROL OPERATIONS
City snow control is provided by the Municipal Public Works Department
supplemented with rented private sector equipment.
Scheduled night shift work hours are 5:00 pm to 1:30 am Tuesday
to Saturday.
Regular day shift work hours are 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday to
Friday. This shift concentrates on all routes and sidewalks.
During snow emergencies and major storms, snow control services
operate 24 hours a day, seven (7) days a week.
We believe that we are currently providing the highest standard
of snow removal of any similar sized community located in northern
Alberta and B.C. The new policies and procedures allow us to Plow
all streets within 32 hours after a major snowfall - prior practices
took 15 days. We anticipate that we can improve upon that time
frame and will strive to institute improvements in all facets of
the snow removal operations.
PLOWING SCHEDULE
Priority 1 - All Major Thoroughfares
Priority 2 - Transit Routes
Priority 3 - Downtown Core
Priority 4 - Residential, Commercial and Industrial Collectors
Priority 5 - Remaining Residential, Commercial and Industrial
Priority 6 - Commercial and Multi - Family Lanes
Many of our streets have to be plowed and the snow loaded into
trucks and removed to snow dumps on the same day. The majority
of the streets in the downtown core, 93rd Avenue by North Peace
Secondary School, 86th Street by Robert Ogilvie School, 110th Avenue
in the vicinity of 100th Street and 114 A Avenue by Bert Ambrose
School are haul off locations.
SIDEWALK CLEARING
Designated Sidewalks are plowed and sanded along all streets by
small plow-equipped tractors. Sidewalks in the Commercial Zone
are cleared of snow by the businesses. They are also cleared by
the city just prior to the haul off operations. The priority for
sidewalks goes to those sidewalks on routes to schools.
Sidewalks in the vicinity of the Peace Lutheran care facility
are maintained by that organization. Their maintenance standards
are very high.
TOWING
One of the main obstacles hampering efficient snow plowing and
removal is parked vehicles. Parking on a downtown or major arterial
street between 12:00 midnight and 8:00 a.m. when snow operations
are in progress will result in your vehicle being towed at your
expense. In residential areas vehicles will also be subject to
towing if they are hampering snow clearing operations. Ample notification
will be provided before vehicles are towed from residential streets.
SNOW REMOVAL PARKING INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CITY OF FORT ST. JOHN
Downtown areas - no parking 12:00 midnight to 8:00 a.m. as posted.
Off-street parking downtown is available.
Residential areas - no parking 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. during scheduled
snow removal operations. Notification will be by temporary signing
and radio announcements.
HELP US DO A GOOD JOB OF SNOW REMOVAL BY KEEPING YOUR STREET CLEAR
OF PARKED VEHICLES.
Call City Hall for the latest parking restriction in your area.
Questions and Answers about Snow Operations
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