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The Edmonton Method - Snow Removal

YEG imagineer

YEG imagineer

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Once again we get a storm that we knew was coming for multiple days and yet I did not see evidence of one snow plow yesterday in my area of 111th Street to 23rd Avenue to Terwilligar Rec Centre at 8 PM. Snow had been going for about 9 hours at that point. Today I see two snow plows with blades lifted while driving through snow and dropping dirt on top of the snow. I call this the Edmonton Method where we do to the minimal of work in the maximum amount of time to get the worst possible result. My question is what do snow removal employees do when there is no snow? Unless most work Monday to Friday office hours. Shouldn't snow removal be a priority that if all workers are on hand to remove then they could get time off in lieu later on (extra vacation or some other inducement for the down time). I wonder if any data is available for the amount of accidents that occur due to delayed and ineffective snow clearing. And the city policy is not even to clear residential roads unless its 5 cm packed.

Coming originally from Eastern Canada, I have never seen the Edmonton Method anywhere else. Is there any data from COE that shows that the current Edmonton Method is scientifically competent compared to snow removal methods in other snowy winter countries and cities. Or is it just an Edmonton pulled out of my pants kind of idea?
 
And to add to this. Could we just hire a Quebec foreman to coordinate. I believe our problem is at the top, not the men and women working the plows.
 
Try calling 311. Bitching about snow removal on an internet forum likely won't accomplish much.

FWIW the snow plows have been up and down McDougall Hill Road, Rossdale Road and 97 Ave almost every hour since yesterday afternoon.
 
YEG imagineer said:
And to add to this. Could we just hire a Quebec foreman to coordinate. I believe our problem is at the top, not the men and women working the plows.
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Was at the Winter Cycling conference last week and the snow maintenance and plowing program in Finland that was shared was very impressive - and because of their priority on pedestrians and active transportation when snow hits 2cm it must cleared within 3 hours and snow must not accumulate beyond more than 4cm or can be financial penalties. Bonuses for meeting the targets, too.
So a storm like we're having they would have been out soon after if had started and just kept going through the night we were told.
 
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I'm told that a City plow truck driver cannot plow if it's their first year operating a truck--only sand/salt. So odds are there are more than a few rookies on the road that drive around in a full class 3 plow truck basically doing nothing but throwing sand on snow.
 
Also is it just me or did the City not used to have way more road graders for big snowfall events? I don't even recall the last time I've seen a City of Edmonton branded grader. Private contractors yes but not so much graders
 
The past two winters (22-23 and 23-24) have been particularly bad. This winter has been an absolute JOKE, especially considering how little work there's been to begin with.
Barely any sand, sluggish snow removal even on main arterials...
Last year was already bad, but apparently the "let nature run it's course" approach definitely went up a notch.

And to those saying to call 311, it is of absolutely no use for this. The best I got was "we're already working on it" from them.
 
Gronk! said:
Try calling 311. Bitching about snow removal on an internet forum likely won't accomplish much.

FWIW the snow plows have been up and down McDougall Hill Road, Rossdale Road and 97 Ave almost every hour since yesterday afternoon.
Click to expand...
105 street, on the other hand.... There were people getting stuck, sliding downhill... Not a single plow on site until at least midnight.

This is just absolutely ridiculous. And calling 311 is about as effective as the snow removal strategy.
 
I was surprised not to see any snow removal happening on Sunday evening. There was little traffic then and you would have thought they would have at least wanted to get a head start to reduce the Monday morning mayhem.
 
I'm pretty satisified with the snow clearing. Not much can be done outside major routes until the snow stops, and roads already seem decently plowed by today. I think expecting more would involve a substantial amount to the budget, and would only result in most roads only being cleared marginally faster.
 
jason403 said:
I'm pretty satisified with the snow clearing. Not much can be done outside major routes until the snow stops, and roads already seem decently plowed by today. I think expecting more would involve a substantial amount to the budget, and would only result in most roads only being cleared marginally faster.
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As of yesterday around midnight:

- Jasper Ave was an absolute embarrassment;
- Whyte wasn't much better;
- Neither was 111 Street
- anything in the SE except for Ellerslie Rd still needed plowing and grading
- Saskatchewan Dr felt more like a glacier than a road
- 109 St north of Jasper was the worst I've ever seen

By that point, heavy snow had stopped at least 16hrs prior, and it had stopped snowing altogether for at least 8. All of these roads are major thoroughfares, with heavy traffic and should've been amongst the first to be plowed and graded.

The snow removal has been an ABSOLUTE JOKE this winter, especially considering that the city caught a huge break with the very mild and snowless season so far, which should've saved them enough on the budget to be more proactive on the ONLY real snowstorm of the season so far (and likely to be the only altogether).
 
ChazYEG said:
As of yesterday around midnight:

- Jasper Ave was an absolute embarrassment;
- Whyte wasn't much better;
- Neither was 111 Street
- anything in the SE except for Ellerslie Rd still needed plowing and grading
- Saskatchewan Dr felt more like a glacier than a road
- 109 St north of Jasper was the worst I've ever seen

By that point, heavy snow had stopped at least 16hrs prior, and it had stopped snowing altogether for at least 8. All of these roads are major thoroughfares, with heavy traffic and should've been amongst the first to be plowed and graded.

The snow removal has been an ABSOLUTE JOKE this winter, especially considering that the city caught a huge break with the very mild and snowless season so far, which should've saved them enough on the budget to be more proactive on the ONLY real snowstorm of the season so far (and likely to be the only altogether).
Click to expand...
Agreed. They can absolutely do better. We don't have to accept this pathetic level of service quality as "good enough". We get snow every year, we have no reason to have such a clumsy, slow, imprecise response to snow events.
 
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