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PoMo learns lessons from last winter

Port Moody needs larger trucks, standardized front plows and more small equipment capable of clearing pedestrian areas if it’s to cope with another winter like the last one.
Snow storm
FILE PHOTO There's no doubt last winter was a tough one for commuters and Port Moody's snow clearing budget.

Port Moody needs larger trucks, standardized front plows and more small equipment capable of clearing pedestrian areas if it’s to cope with another winter like the last one.

Those are among a series of high-priority recommendations in a report presented to city council’s committee of the whole.

The report, prepared by the city’s operations superintendent, Jeff Little, also recommends more staff be trained to operate PoMo's current fleet of plows and assurances of appropriate budgeting to meet the demands for winter road maintenance.

“Staff have begun taking action to acquire resources and establish procedures that apply the lessons learned during the winter of 2016-2017,” said the report, which also noted the city faced “significant challenges” trying to keep up with winter road maintenance, providing essential services like garbage, recycling and green waste pickup, water distribution and wastewater collection all at the same time.

The report said the two one-ton trucks fitted with plows that are dispatched to clear the city’s priority 3 routes during sustained winter weather are prone to breakdowns “as they do not offer the capacity or power to effectively plow and salt these routes. The problems only get worse when they’re deployed to higher-priority routes to spell off trucks responsible for clearing those routes when they have broken down.”

Ordering replacement trucks with standardized front plows and connections as well as sanders would improve efficiency as it would be easier to swap equipment between trucks.

The report also recommends the city accelerate its plan to acquire a front-end loader to help load trucks with salt and other materials. The city’s current small skid steer loader can’t load all the trucks in the city’s fleet, which means its two backhoes have to be called into service away from helping clear snow and ice.

The report says the city also doesn’t have enough suitable equipment to keep pedestrian routes clear. Renting a small skid steer loader, as the city has done in the past, isn’t always possible when the snow is flying and small snowblowers and shovels only go so far.

“Pedestrian accessibility, particularly during snow events when conditions may discourage people from using cars, is an especially important requirement in Port Moody,” said the report, noting residents then often opt to walk to their nearest transit stop instead.

Staffing challenges and the high demand for workers available to help keep city streets and sidewalks clear also made it difficult for it to keep up with all the snow over a prolonged period, said the report, so more staff must be trained to use more of the equipment.

The report also recommends better, more simplified communication within city operations as well as establishing a more formal conduit for communication between operations staff and police in case of traffic safety issues like road closures or accidents.

The constant barrage of snow and ice also emptied the city’s supply of road salt, forcing it to buy salt from Saskatchewan at triple the usual price it pays or work out deals to share salt from other municipalities and the school district. The report recommends the city look at enlarging its capacity to store salt beyond the 240 tons it can currently manage as part of the planning for a new works yard.

In total, Port Moody spent almost twice as much on winter road maintenance in 2016 — $401,644 — than it did the year before when clearing streets cost $209,230. The costs for 2017 have yet to be determined.