Vernon Snow Removal

[emg]

What is so dissappointing, is that the SAME company that is contracted to do Kelowna and Westbank's snow removal is Argo Road Maintenance, yet Vernon's snow removal over the last 4 days has been absolutely abismal. I've lived in Kelowna and Westbank, and streets are constantly being cleared all day long (BEFORE SCHOOL BUSES GET OUT THERE), de-icer agent sprayed regularly. I moved out here recently to Vernon, and I have yet to see a single snow plow on the roads.

No wait, that is a lie. Monday when we were hit with wicked frost, I was coming down Commonage, when a plow passed me, scraping the road. Not that it would have done any good, since there was no snow on the road, just frost. Sand would have been a better idea, but buddy wasn't laying any down the entire road.

Castanet news shows all these accidents in Vernon caused by Motor vehicles. Some leading to death unfortunately. I THINK the regional district and city should step up their game, and maybe spend some of that useful tax money we all pay on something as commonplace and realistic as snow removal and street de-icer. I am sure there would be far less accidents, and deaths on our roads.

Shame on the city, regional district and Argo. These road deaths and accidents can help be prevented.

[coffeeFreak]

Hope you've phoned city hall and the contractors and voiced your concerns?

Also, if you have concerns about snow removal on sidewalks, especially downtown, a person has to call the bylaw and complain before a warning will be issued. Many of the downtown businesses just don't seem to want customers in the winter. Mobility for the elderly, parents with a strollers and the physically disabled can be next to impossible once the snow stays.

[imahoser]

that was probably the same snow plow I saw early friday morning. Scraping but no sand. I missed work because I couldnt get up the damn hill.

[xjeepguy]

What is so dissappointing, is that the SAME company that is contracted to do Kelowna and Westbank's snow removal is Argo Road Maintenance, yet Vernon's snow removal over the last 4 days has been absolutely abismal. I've lived in Kelowna and Westbank, and streets are constantly being cleared all day long (BEFORE SCHOOL BUSES GET OUT THERE), de-icer agent sprayed regularly. I moved out here recently to Vernon, and I have yet to see a single snow plow on the roads.

No wait, that is a lie. Monday when we were hit with wicked frost, I was coming down Commonage, when a plow passed me, scraping the road. Not that it would have done any good, since there was no snow on the road, just frost. Sand would have been a better idea, but buddy wasn't laying any down the entire road.

Castanet news shows all these accidents in Vernon caused by Motor vehicles. Some leading to death unfortunately. I THINK the regional district and city should step up their game, and maybe spend some of that useful tax money we all pay on something as commonplace and realistic as snow removal and street de-icer. I am sure there would be far less accidents, and deaths on our roads.

Shame on the city, regional district and Argo. These road deaths and accidents can help be prevented.

Wow that sucks , call up and voice your concern but be polite , things can get busy when we get snow . I used to plow snow for a municipality and the last street to get plowed is the mans or ladies that left the heated message about her/his street not getting plowed and demanding it be done and trust me , the voice mail box at the works yard usually contains a fair amount of those .
We just moved here and I was impressed with our area , I counted 6 city plow truck appearances here on Friday . Thought that was excellent .

FYI , Argo only does the major HWY's , not general city roads .

[gordon_as]

Thankyou for pointing out that Argo only does the highways. City of Vernon is responsible for city streets , and plows and sands the major arteries first , then the secondary roads , and lastly your residential street. For the most part they do a pretty good job. I live in the landing , on a particularly troublesome road. We watched many cars trying to get up , not making it , sliding backwards trying to turn around. Others made it up no problem , even when they had to stop and wait for those who did not have proper winter tires to get out of the way. City sand/plow truck spoiled the show after only about 1 1/2 hour wait. I thought they made pretty good time. Plowing the first cm of snow off the road doesn't make much sense when there are 5 more cm's still coming.

[Fritzthecat]

Snow removal is awful. We should've re-elected Lippert. He was the Saviour of Vernon. He was responsible for the Polson Tower opening two years ahead of schedule. He was about to cure cancer too but NO you had to throw him out.

[Boots Riley]

Argo is a joke. Not sure how they expect people to obey the rules of not passing a snowplow in the right lane when they have their company trucks blowing by them or speeding in construction zones. I usually go through 1 windshield a winter because they drop heavy gravel on the road so that it stays, and they don't have to sand as much.

[dg3]

people driving on hilly roads should use good winter tires, the only sanding is needed at bottom of hills. snowplows are never needed in alleys, just makes more mess for residents to clean up.

[metallica]

I ploughed and sanded with the Highways for 20 winters. Big Bend highway, Winfield, Kelowna and Vernon. To say you only need sand at the bottom of a hill is just plain stupid. Come on down to Beaver lake Rd and Hwy 97 in Winfield and watch a Semi that had to stop for the Red light try to get going. Sand the hell out of the hills for traction and make sure you have a good mix of salt if it warms up.

[BCGrrrrl]

Well, I just returned to Vernon from Kelowna Airport and I can tell you that while they may have been out this morning "sanding" the stuff on the road is more like pea gravel. Every time someone passed I held my breath just waiting for the windshield to get bullseyes in it from all the flying rocks. Sure hope they find some real sand to mix with their salt so we don't have to put up with this crap all winter.

[dg3]

i have never seen a semi with winter tires with ice sipes, stay off the hills with all seasons.

[Dizzy1]

Perhaps someone can enlgihten me on this. OK, Argo does the highway maintanence on Hwy 97 for the Province, correct? Now, are they 2 seperate divisions for the North Okanagan and Central Okanagan? The reason why I am asking, is because the ones coming from the North End (Vernon) go to the North End of Crystal Waters Road and turn around back north and the ones from the South End (Kelowna, Lake Country) go to the North End of Crystal Waters Road and turn around back south. Also I might add, that winter after winter after winter, south of the North End of Crystal Waters Road has both lanes plowed and cleared on a regular basis where as north of Crystal Waters Road you'd be lucky to have the slow lane plowed never mind cleared.

[imahoser]

Thankyou for pointing out that Argo only does the highways. City of Vernon is responsible for city streets , and plows and sands the major arteries first , then the secondary roads , and lastly your residential street. For the most part they do a pretty good job. I live in the landing , on a particularly troublesome road. We watched many cars trying to get up , not making it , sliding backwards trying to turn around. Others made it up no problem , even when they had to stop and wait for those who did not have proper winter tires to get out of the way. City sand/plow truck spoiled the show after only about 1 1/2 hour wait. I thought they made pretty good time. Plowing the first cm of snow off the road doesn't make much sense when there are 5 more cm's still coming.

Do you happen to live near that god awful snakey hilly road, up to bench row road?

[Verminator]

Hey, the snow removal on my street is GREAT! Of course, the fact that my neighbour works at the City Yard has nothing to do with that....

[dnm6001]

We live off Silverstar RD, the roads are well serviced here, and for our extra long driveway we have Randy Belanger looking after keeping it clear.