Drivers, crews watching Lower Mainland’s forecast with potential snow ahead

Are crews ready to deal with roads and parking lots should the flakes really start to fly in the days ahead — especially on the busiest shopping days before Christmas?

How much snow we will get is still a question mark, but you can bet a lot of drivers caught in the mess two weeks ago when many Metro Vancouver routes were paralysed for hours are watching the forecast very carefully.

Last time, tow trucks and ploughs were also stuck in gridlocked traffic, delaying efforts to unclog some of the major routes.

“I think people are getting tired of me saying our biggest challenge was the congestion on the roads and the ability of our trucks to get out, however that was probably the biggest factor,” says Darren Ell, general manager for Mainroad Lower Mainland Contracting.  “Once the traffic started moving, we were able to get some vehicles towed and then the roads opened up for us and were able to clean up pretty quickly.”

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Ell says his biggest comment ahead of the next potential snow event is for drivers to use their best judgement.

“If you don’t feel comfortable driving in winter weather, please stay home. If your vehicle is not capable of driving in winter weather, please stay home. Let the guys get out there and do their job, plough the roads and make it safe. It sounds like we will have three, four or five days of wintry weather and then it will warm up again. Be patient and be prepared.”

He says Mainroad trucks have been out proactively preparing roads for the potentially snowy weather.

“We’ve been brining the roads, making sure there is adequate chemical down on the road. As soon as there’s precipitation we switch over to salt. We have full crews working 24/7, out there on 12-hour shifts and making sure roads are as safe as possible. As soon as snow starts accumulating, they’ll be ploughing it off the road.”

Ell says it could be a busy few days in the lead-up to Christmas.

“That’s the unfortunate part of our business — it doesn’t stop for vacations or holidays — so our guys just buckle down and work through it. I really have to give them a lot of credit because they take a lot of abuse from the travelling public and they just buckle and make it happen.”

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With holiday chaos already ramping up in many parking lots, a company that clears commercial properties and roadways says it is also bracing for potential snow.

Burnaby Blacktop converts its trucks to plough, brine and salt through the winter for hundreds of clients.

“We are definitely doing our due diligence to over-salt and over-brine areas just to help with the melting of the first hit of snow,” says president Adrian Alblas, adding that all of the company’s plough trucks are primed and ready to go.

“We’ve actually just loaded our yard with a few more thousand tons of salt as backup, just in case, because it does look like we have a good two-week stretch of really cold temperatures. We’re getting armed with people, equipment and materials, so I think we are very prepared for it.”

The weekend forecast from CityNews’s Michael Kuss calls for light rain or snow on Saturday and a few flurries on Sunday. The longer-range forecast for Metro Vancouver is for temperatures to fall well below zero with snow possible on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

On Friday, the City of Vancouver is reminding residents and businesses of their snow-clearing responsibilities. It might seem like common sense to shovel the sidewalk outside your home after snow falls, but when, how long you have to do it, and the kinds of fines you face if you don’t, all differ depending on where you live in the Lower Mainland.

You can find all the details about snow clearing in the Lower Mainland here.