Elk Point reminds residents of bylaws pertaining to snowfall

The Town of Elk Point wants to remind residents of a number of bylaws that pertain to snowfall, including its Highway 41 Sidewalks Policy, Snowfall Priority Cleaning Policy, and Snow Removal – Sidewalk Policy.

 

Highway 41 Sidewalks Policy

The Town of Elk Point will close the two sidewalks that run on each side of Highway 41 through town. The town stated in its Highway Sidewalks Policy that it recognizes the safety of residents and the public utilizing the sidewalks adjacent Highway 41. To ensure that public safety is a priority, the sidewalks adjacent/near Highway 41 during the winter months will be used for snow plowing to keep the Highway lanes open for travel.

History

The sidewalks along highway 41 have always been cleaned once or twice a year by the Town of Elk Point and hauled away.

The sidewalks are used for piling snow from the plows to keep the 4 lanes of traffic open through the Town of Elk Point. Sanding and plowing are sometimes done on a daily basis by Carillion.

The Town of Elk Point is allotted some funds from Carillion to facilitate the cleaning of these sidewalk a couple times a year.

At this time the cleaning of sidewalks are done for two reasons:

• To make more room for plowed snow if piled too high.
• To speed up precipitation of snow from highway in the spring

 

Reasons for sidewalk closure

1. Machinery and manpower are not available in the event of a heavy Streets within the Town take priority.
2. The sometimes daily plowing of the highway would make it impossible for town employees to keep sidewalks clear.
3. The sand and slush mixtures pushed on sidewalks is a recipe for icing making walking difficult for pedestrians.
4. The safety concerns for pedestrians using the sidewalk while snow plows cleaninghighway visibility of pedestrians for snow plows is difficult.
5. Carillion says in order for the plows not to pile up as much snow on the sidewalks the highway would be down to 2 lanes going through town because they would pile in outside lanes.
6. The total cleaning of the sidewalks takes 4 people of the town’s 6 man crew 2 trucks, loader and 1 flag person total removal of snow can take anywhere from 5 to 8 hrs depending on amount of snow.
7. The safety issue of working in high traffic area with slippery roads and bottlenecked traffic to facilitate cleaning.
8. Carillion wants no involvement in the cleaning of the sidewalks besides paying their portion.

The Town of Elk Point has closed sidewalks to foot traffic to keep sidewalk available for snow plows to pile snow and keep the four lanes open going through town.

 

Snowfall Priority Cleaning Policy

To ensure high priority roadways and those with the most traffic are cleaned of snow in a timely manner, the Town of Elk Point has a priorities list to determine the order of snowfall clearing. This list comes into effect in the event of a snowfall of 3″ or greater.

 

Priority list

1. Hospital street 50^th Avenue from 51 street to 54 street
2. School area 50 street from 50 Avenue to 55 Avenue and 51 street from 50 Avenue to 55 Avenue
3. Roadways leading out of town 54 street from 50 Avenue to Highway 646, S0Avenue from 54st

to town limits, railway Avenue from 54th to Highway 41, and 57 Avenue from 51street to Highway 41.

4. 51 Street from 55 Avenue to 60 Avenue.
5. Town utility water and wastewater plants.
6. Industrial areas as

 

Downtown area

The downtown areas are not typically cleaned until the next day unless there is unusually heavy snowfall. At that point, it would be windrowed into the centre for that day.

 

Downtown areas are not cleaned until the next day to give business owners enough time to shovel sidewalks onto the street for pickup.

 

Cleaning of downtown begins at 5:00 am.

 

Streets cleaned are:

1. 50 street from 51Avenue to Railway Avenue
2. 49Avenue from 49 street to 51street
3. 50Avenue from Highway 41 to 51 street
4. 51 street from 50 Avenue to 49 Avenue
5. 49 street from 50 Avenue to 49 Avenue

The residential areas are graded after these are completed on a needed basis.

Side note: residential streets are not graded down to pavement for the purpose of keeping some snow base for insulation over water lines.

Windrows are removed on a need-to basis from streets to make room for more snow piling and to keep streets from narrowing too much. Driveways are kept open if you do not have a driveway, and a spot is left open in front of the home to park.

 

Snow Removal – Sidewalk Policy

The Town of Elk Point recognizes the importance of cleaning sidewalks during the winter months as a level of service needed for the residents and business of Elk Point.

 

Town of Elk Point winter sidewalk cleaning Shovelling priorities

1. Town office and entrances
2. Library frontage and entrances.
3. Eco center ramp and doorway
4. Footbridges and entrance sidewalks on 5l ave, 50 ave, 52 Street, 52 ave and 51 Street
5. 50 Avenue, where the broom cannot get through.

 

Brooming priorities

1. 50 Avenue from 54 street to Highway
2. 51 street from 49 Avenue to 60 Avenue.
3. 49 Avenue from 51 street to 52
4. Fire hall pad and e
5. Walkways in trailer court west

 

In the event of heavy snowfall, sidewalks will be cleaned off first with a loader or bobcat. Driveways will be cleaned wherever the broom crosses.