Council committee adds up cost of boosting Edmonton’s beleaguered snow-clearing efforts

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City councilors have ordered staff to provide details on a suite of possibilities for getting a better handle on snow clearing — and how much it will cost.

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A council committee agreed Monday on a list of options and information for city officials to present in June, covering changes like clearing sidewalks in front of seniors’ facilities within 24 hours or blading all residential roads to bare pavement and carting away the resulting windrows.

But after a brutal winter of ice rink-like conditions on Edmonton sidewalks and roads, council will have to decide where to spend more money to boost service.

Decisions have yet to be made, but Coun. Keren Tang said she hopes the work can offer a “blueprint” on a way forward after mounting complaints from Edmontonians this past winter.

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“I want to see our equipment fully maximized before even considering new equipment and that we have a full staff available to use this equipment,” she said.

Craig McKeown, branch manager of city operations, told the committee Monday that Edmonton’s road and pathway network has expanded by 21 per cent over the last five years, while staffing levels have dropped about 13 per cent.

“We currently have 130 vehicles in total for roadways, and ideally 104 of those vehicles should be on the road at any given time,” McKeown said.

“But due to not having enough staff, we were only able to use an average of 57 trucks after a snow event.”

Major arterial roads, which are the city’s first priority for snow clearing, are meant to be completed within 36 hours of a snowfall. McKeown said with the current resources, it usually takes more than triple that time.

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The committee asked to look at speeding up snow clearing on roads and pathways, but if that work is approved as presented, it would mean adding about $42 million to the annual snow and ice budget — nearly double the current yearly spend of $57 million.

Even with that investment, the time it takes to clear snow and ice wouldn’t hit current targets, officials said. Getting there would require almost tripling the budget.

Councilors also added a list of asks they’re interested in exploring, including buying six new double-wide trailer snow plows and investing in more enforcement during parking bans.

Coun. Tim Cartmell said there’s “no way in the world” that council will be able to approve everything on the list, but he added it’s a step forward to have a solid understanding of the data behind Edmonton’s snow-control efforts.

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One notable question mark is the future of a residential blading program. Council approved the clearing of neighborhood roads through a pilot project late last year after safety issues spurred by major snowfalls.

Staff estimate it would cost about $143 million each winter season to blade residential roads after every snowfall. The cost of removing the windrows that work would create would cost roughly $12 million each time.

Cartmell said he doesn’t think that’s realistic.

“There may be some blading that needs to be done in the spring thaw … and I think there’s probably something to do with improving the walkability of some of our neighbourhoods,” he said.

“But picking up every speck of snow on every speck of asphalt in Edmonton and expecting that to be our standard, I just think that’s way over the top.”

Council will look at additional recommendations on snow clearing in a few weeks, but final decisions won’t be made until budget deliberations next fall.

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Twitter: @meksmith