Murray Wightman, manager of street operations for the City of Vancouver, said 20 to 25 trucks worked around the clock on Saturday and Sunday to salt and plow streets.
A full complement of workers was to be on shift Sunday night to staff 20 trucks and other pieces of equipment, according to a Sunday news release from the city.
“The overnight emphasis will be on clearing snow from curb lanes to ensure as many lanes as possible are free of snow and slush for the morning commute.”
Wightman said his entire street operations branch, totalling about 300 people, will be out today, many clearing catchbasins at sidewalks and intersections. Crews will also continue plowing parking and curb lanes, Wightman said.
The city reminded residents and businesses they must clear their sidewalks by 10 a.m. of snow and ice. “Residents are also encouraged to be a snow angel and assist seniors and other neighbours with sidewalk clearing.”
Residents were also told to set out garbage and recycling bins as usual. “If crews are unable to pick up the material because of snow accumulations, crews will come back as soon as possible to pick up the material.”
Wightman noted that over the weekend, the city had to close more hills than usual as a safety precaution.
“Normally, Oak Street, from Broadway to Sixth Avenue, is the usual suspect,” Wightman said. “[On Saturday] we had to do Boundary from 49th to Marine — which we haven’t had to do in a couple years — and Kerr from 63rd down to Marine Drive. It was well-salted, but without the traffic on it, it just became a skating rink.”
Meanwhile, several bus routes were rerouted due to road conditions and many others experienced delays.
The Coquitlam community shuttle service was suspended at times on Sunday, affecting the C27, C28 and C29 routes, while TransLink’s HandyDart ran essential services only.
Many Metro Vancouver residents expressed their frustration with the weather on Twitter, their messages accompanied by the hashtag #snOMG.
“Honda Civic + Snow = Epic Fail,” wrote Jian Pablico, who also tweeted that he was stuck in North Vancouver after parking at the bottom of a hill on Saturday night.
“Thank you for the snow Vancouver — beautiful to watch, horrible to drive in,” tweeted Nadia Jessa, who was visiting from Seattle.
Lynne Polischuik tweeted a photo of a snow-covered street, on which fellow Vancouverite Dan Udey commented: “So this is it. We’re going to die.” |
發表於 2011-2-28 00:46
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