File photo (Image credit: CFJC Today).

By Aaron Schulze

Snow Pilot Project

City of Kamloops looking at higher-elevated cul-de-sacs for snow clearing pilot project

Nov 27, 2024 | 8:46 AM

KAMLOOPS — It’ll mostly be business as usual for the City of Kamloops when it comes to snow clearing this winter.

However, a pilot project involving higher-elevated cul-de-sacs is on the horizon once a significant snow event hits Kamloops.

Details are scarce but while speaking to Kamloops council during their regular meeting on Tuesday (Nov. 26), Assistant Civic Operations Director Joe Luison explained the pilot will focus on getting cul-de-sacs cleared sooner. It comes following the amalgamation of the City’s Parks and Streets departments.

“The pilot we’re going to do in a small section is not to increase our service level, it’s to do a better job meeting our service level,” Luison says. “We recognize that large trucks in small cul-de-sacs don’t do the most effective job because generally they don’t disperse the snow as evenly to all the residents. When you see these trucks, it does not mean they’re removing all the windrows, piling them in the middle and hauling them away. It’s a more even dispersal so we can get the big trucks back on the main roads instead of having fleet stay stationary.”

Once a snow event hits Kamloops, meaning nearly four inches of snowfall, the city will aim to clear arterial roads – such as Aberdeen Drive, Pacific Way, Hugh Allan Drive, Columbia Street and Tranquille Road – within four hours, bus routes within 16 hours and residential streets within 36 hours.

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When asked by Councillor Stephen Karpuk how the city measures a good job clearing snow, Luison responded by saying it’s dependent on if crews meet their service levels.

“When we get five or six inches or more, those time frames are out the window,” Luison says. “Expectations are growing, but service levels haven’t. We’ve been asked to do certain bike lanes through town… but when we talk about removing snow from every bike lane in the city… we can do it… but we’re back at this table saying, ‘Where does the dollar come from?’”

The annual snow and ice control budget for the city is $1.9 million.