How does the City of Airdrie decide which roads to clean first?

With Airdrie receiving its first snowfall of the season and temperatures dropping below zero, how does the city decide which roads to clear from snow and ice first?

The City of Airdrie prioritizes certain routes under certain priorities, according to Mike Avramenko, the Roads Team Lead for the City of Airdrie.

"What we generally do is we start our winter shifts this month. This year we started them on October 13, which means we have 24/7 coverage."

Here are the five priorities within Airdrie according to the city:

•  Priority 1: Arterial roads 

  • Arterial roads are generally multi-lane roads such as Main Street, 8 Street, East Lake Boulevard, Veterans Boulevard, Yankee Valley Boulevard, and now 40th Avenue.

  • School zones on school days are also included in the priority 1 snow-clearing level.

• Priority 2: Collector roads

  • Collector roads are the main feeder roads into residential communities such as Meadowbrook Drive, Kings Heights Boulevard, and Reunion Gateway.  

• Priority 3: Rural roads

  • Rural roads such as Township Road 264, Range Road 291, and Township Road 274

• Priority 4: City facilities

  • City-owned parking lots such as fire halls, arenas, Town and Country Centre and parks.

• Priority 5: Residential roads

  • Plowing occurs when the road is rendered impassable or in extenuating circumstances.

  • Snow is plowed to boulevards or to the side of the road.

  • Residents are responsible for clearing windrows left by equipment in front of their driveway entrances.

  • Residents are not permitted to place the snow removed from sidewalks and driveways onto the roadway or on any public space.

"This year, we've added an additional plow/sanding truck from six to seven to help with how fast we can get out there and take care of the roads."

Avramenko wanted to point out that when it comes to the exits on and off the QEII, it's actually the province's responsibility and their contractor to clean those parts of the roads.

"We generally provide some service over the bridge decks as well just to help out."

The city is responsible for and cleans 542 lane kilometers of road.

During the summer, Avramenko stated the Roads Team provided a snow and ice report to Airdrie City Council. While multiple ideas on how to improve road cleaning in Airdrie have been presented, multiple ideas are still up in the air and are awaiting approval.

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