Some Saint John residents were left frustrated by the city’s snow-clearing efforts following the first major storm of the season.
Forecasters were calling for between 20 and 30 centimetres of snow in the city Friday and Friday night.
However, Environment Canada says a total of 35 centimetres fell by the time it ended early Saturday.
“That amount of snow, in combination with the high winds, was certainly a challenge for crews, especially early on in the response,” Tim O’Reilly, the city’s director of public works, said in an interview Sunday.
O’Reilly said city crews began a 24/7 response as soon as the snow began Friday. The around-the-clock work continued into Sunday as crews worked to push back snow and widen streets.
There are a total of 27 large street plowing routes and 11 sidewalk plow routes throughout the city, according to a recent staff report.
The city has enough resources to deal with a typical storm, he said, but this one was “above average” in terms of severity, measuring 79 out of 100 on the city’s storm severity index.
“In those cases, we do find instances where we don’t quite meet our objectives, and certainly early on in the storm, especially on our [priority] threes and fours, we weren’t able to meet the timelines and the objectives,” said O’Reilly.
Some residents even took to social media to express frustration with how long it took to get their streets plowed.
Recent cuts to service
A total of 18 staffing positions and 11 pieces of equipment were cut ahead of the 2020-21 season as part of the city’s sustainability plan.
City staff also moved to balance resources between day shift and night shift for most of the city’s routes.
“With this balancing effort, the “surge” of snow clearing during the daytime that citizens have come to expect would be diminished and some redundant resources were lost,” said a recent staff report to council.
However, staff anticipated that service objectives, which remained unchanged from the prior season, would continue to be met.
The city saw four recordable winter storms in 2020-21 — a “light” winter season, according to staff — with an average storm severity of 42 out of 100.
According to city staff, 90 per cent of street plowing objectives were achieved on at least 80 per cent of the streets each storm, while 63 per cent of sidewalk plowing objectives were met on at least 70 per cent of the streets each storm.
Current objectives for snow clearing
Under the city’s winter management plan, crews aim to have Priority 1 and 2 streets “passable” within eight hours after a storm, and Priority 3 and 4 streets within 12 hours.
For sidewalks, the goal is “basic pedestrian passage” within 12 hours for Priority 1 sidewalks, within one day for Priority 2 and 3, and within three days for Priority 4.
Despite not meeting all of the snow-clearing objectives this storm, O’Reilly said they are “well ahead of schedule” for getting snow pushed back and anti-icing material applied.
The aim is to do that within two days for Priority 1 and 2 streets, within three days for Priority 3 streets, and within four days for Priority 4 streets.
“That’s planned for this particular event because of the pending warmer temperatures and the rain expected today and the freezing temperatures the middle of next week,” said O’Reilly.
“We really want to get as much snow off the streets and sidewalks as possible before it does freeze and that becomes ice.”
As with all major storms, O’Reilly said staff will conduct a debrief to review their response and any improvements that are needed.
More details about the city’s winter management plan can be found on the city’s website, where you can also learn about the priority level for each individual street and section of sidewalk.
Friday’s storm was a significant one for municipal crews in Saint John, according to the city’s Public Works director.
The city was preparing for 20 to 30 cm but got around 35 cm in the end. Tim O’Reilly says those amounts, combined with high winds, made it challenging. pic.twitter.com/nIsNKzdNY0
— Brad Perry (@BradMPerry) January 9, 2022
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