Quote:
Originally Posted by MJM
I find the major problems with Calgary is that the snow removal doesn't start until AFTER the storm is over. This results in snow being packed down by drivers that have to go to work in the morning and the snow turning into an icefield with no hope of being removed until a Chinook hits.
What should happen is that before a storm hits, the roads should be heavily salted, and the plows should be on standby to start as soon as the first flake hits. This should reduce cost because less cleanup is required in the following days, and something could actually be done about the roads before it's too late. This is how it's done in every major city in the Maritimes, and their roads are excellent. The roads are better in New Brunswick during a major snowstorm than they are 3 days after a 10 cm light snow in Calgary.
So in a nutshell, Calgary's current snow removal policy is let if fall and a chinook will take care of it.
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The problem though, is that high concentrations of salt are only used when the temperature is warm, because if it's too cold, the salt is just useless. It doesn't do the trick. Not only that, but you don't want lakes of water everywhere to freeze and turn into glare ice.
If Calgary is anything like Edmonton, and it probably is, guys are working 24 hours a day. If a storm hits, the plows will be out ASAP, with more people coming to work as soon as they can get them in. I know that throughout storms here, the plows are hitting the major drags numerous times. The less major roads aren't going to get it immediately.
It's also hard to compare Calgary to Edmonton or Calgary to the Maritimes, because of the budgets for snow removal. Calgary has less than half the money to work with than we do up here, so I don't think it can be expected to be taken care of as quickly.