Road Maintenance-Snow Removal

Why are the roads so rough this year?

• This season’s weather patterns have been very problematic for the planning and execution of snow maintenance activities. The fluctuation between temperate to extremely cold weather conditions forced snow removal to halt in January, putting great strain on our operations. Packed snow has now softened, which has caused ruts on the roads. Major snowfall in a short period added to this challenge.
• On residential streets, the addition of snow from private property onto roads has added to this issue and has caused large bumps and patches, which take longer for staff to fix. This disposal of snow is against the City’s Highway Traffic By-law.

The City of Yellowknife has seven staff assigned to snow removal activities during the night, and three during the day. Staff continue to work diligently to complete their tasks and clear the roads. Overtime hours are consistently worked to keep up with the demand of snow removal in Yellowknife. 

Why isn’t the City fixing the rutting on many City Streets?

The City of Yellowknife is working to fix ruts, however specific conditions are needed to fully clear the ruts. Typically, there are parked cars that have to be removed by residents or towed to ensure the area is clear and can be scraped. The City does scrape roads at regular intervals to level out rutting, but vehicles tend to continue to follow the ruts, which blows the bladed snow back out of the rut.  

The City of Yellowknife does not possess the proper resources to do this. The City works as diligently as it can with the current equipment to clear the roads (as outlined in the questions above).

The City of Yellowknife must complete snow removal within the allocated budget resources. The City does engage contractors when extraordinary events necessitate such action. This help can be difficult to secure, as many local contractors have prior commitments and cannot leave them to assist the City. 

As mentioned in the question above, the City of Yellowknife must complete snow removal within the allocated budget resources. If the City were to hire additional staff, a large number of new equipment pieces would also need to be purchased to see a significant difference. Additional storage space, which the City currently doesn’t have, would be required to store more equipment pieces. At this time, the budget does not support the hiring of new staff or the purchasing of new equipment or storage space. 

City of Yellowknife staff track weather trends to obtain facts and provide data-driven analysis to support requests for increased budgets. Budget 2024 includes an additional $150,000 for contracted snow removal costs.

The City of Yellowknife has adapted its snow removal practices over the last decade and the method used is the most effective and efficient use of staff and equipment resources based on current weather patterns. Practices in other parts of Canada cannot be adapted to our community because of the uniqueness of weather patterns in the North.

• The City of Yellowknife strategically plans how it removes snow based on the capacity of staff and equipment, and the impact on residents who use the roads. Major roads like Franklin Avenue and Old Airport Road are more difficult to clear, as they must be sectioned off and closed. Equipment must be gone early in the morning so it does not affect the morning commute. Consideration for emergency vehicles and safety concerns also cause difficulties, as roads cannot be completely closed and cleared all at once.
• Due to these considerations, City staff are deployed to lower traffic areas of the city to maximize the amount of work that can be done on a daily basis.  This is why snow removal schedules include a high priority road, a secondary road and a tertiary road.

Updated on November 20, 2024

Source: Government of Canada website

The City of Yellowknife’s snow maintenance activities consist of snow plowing and maintenance, street sanding, and snow removal.

Each activity has a service level based on a road priority system.  These can be seen in City Explorer.

This priority system considers multiple factors, such as:

1. Emergency services and public transit routes.
2. Impact on community at large.
3. Equipment and staff levels.
4. Overall budget.

Snow plowing and road maintenance (grading), which is completed on a daily basis, is relatively quick and covers a large area of town in a shorter amount of time. This is done throughout the winter months, from the first snowfall until asphalt is bare in the spring.

Snow removal is the complete closure of a street with advanced notice. It is slower and requires more staff and equipment. Approximately 400-600 meters of snow removal can be cleared per shift on main roads like Franklin Avenue and Old Airport Road due to the width. On smaller streets, snow removal can range from 600-800 meters per shift. This depends on complications such as parked cars and the amount of snow placed on the roadway from residents.

The regular snow removal schedule is approximately 18 weeks. This accounts for snow removal on Franklin and Old Airport Road multiple times due to its importance and lower priority streets having one instance of snow removal.  There is a window of flexibility to accommodate cold weather shut downs, like the community has seen this year.

Large snow events mean service levels increase, which are reflected in staff overtime hours and increased contracted costs. These events can usually be accommodated within approved budgets or within the Public Works and Engineering departmental variance.