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City of Yellowknife

Snow Removal

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Contacts
  • The snow removal season typically runs from December to late April and is dependent on the weather.
  • Residents are informed of snow being removed from city streets by radio ads and signs that are placed 24 hours before removal.
  • Snow removal begins at 12:00 a.m. and takes place during the early morning to avoid conflicts with motorists, pedestrians and children at play.
  • Residents must ensure parked vehicles are removed by midnight of the scheduled day or they will be removed (towed).
  • Residents are advised that there will be traffic delays in snow removal areas and if possible to use an alternate route to avoid delays.

The City thanks you for your patience and reminds residents to use caution in snow removal areas and not pass moving equipment.

Snow Removal & Garbage Pick-Up

The City of Yellowknife needs your cooperation with snow removal and garbage pickup in your area. Please ensure streets are clear of obstacles for operators to perform snow removal in the early hours of the morning. Signs are placed 24 hours in advance in areas of snow removal so residents are aware snow removal will be taking place. The City would also like to remind residents that once garbage bins have been emptied to return them to your property so streets are clear for snow road maintenance.

The City appreciates your assistance in this matter to ensure a smooth snow removal transition.

For a map of snow plowing and sanding priorities, please visit the CityExplorer map tool.

 

Road Conditions and Heavy Snow Fall

The City of Yellowknife wishes to advise residents that in the event the city experiences heavy snow falls, the City may have no choice but to push snow from roads to the curbs in order to keep roads open to traffic. If this method is used, this will create a snow ridge across residents' driveways and snow on sidewalks, residents will have to shovel out their driveway entrances and if possible, help in cleaning the sidewalks. City By-law No. 4063 states that if residents are shovelling out their driveways, they must not put snow back onto the street as this can be a traffic hazard.
Snow Removal Operations

The City removes snow from Yellowknife's roads and where possible the sidewalks. Snow removal is generally performed once in residential areas and twice in the downtown core.

Snow removal operations involve a grader removing snow from roads and sidewalks. This process may result in a dropoff at residents' driveways.  The height may vary, depending on snow accumulation, but could be in the 100-300mm range (4-12 inches). Residents should plan on ramping their driveway to street level after snow removal as this is not performed by the City.

If driving before snow removal is completed, motorists should keep to the right of snow piles placed in the center of streets.

Residents must ensure parked vehicles are removed by midnight of the scheduled day or they  will be removed (towed).
Snow Removal Priority System

The City carries out snow removal, snow ploughing and winter street sand placement (sometimes referred to as sanding) to increase traction on the road and improve pedestrian and motorist safety. The City carries out snow removal on a priority system. High traffic areas and areas close to schools have a higher priority than low traffic residential roads.

The City asks for your continued patience as we work towards removing snow from City streets. We have received requests from some residents to carry out snow removal on their street, however we are not able to do so. To accelerate a request would mean postponing snow removal from a street that has a higher priority. A few reasons why a street may have a higher priority are: high vehicle or pedestrian traffic, location of a school, street may be narrow (a public safety concern), trucked services, public or school bus transit, etc. We do however investigate resident concerns, and if snow removal is not scheduled to take place soon, the City will plough the road with a grader in an attempt to improve the condition of the road. In the meantime, please drive safely.
Snow Removal from Sidewalks

See our Sidewalk Cleaning page for information on snow removal from sidewalks.

 

If you would like to recognize a business for prompt and thorough snow removal, please visit our Golden Shovel page for information and the submission form.

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