Edmonton drivers navigating deep ruts, vehicle damage in aftermath of holiday dump

Many Edmonton drivers are frustrated by the ruts on the city's residential streets. CTV News Edmonton's Marek Tkach reports.

Edmonton motorists are navigating deep ruts, sliding on slush or getting stuck altogether in the aftermath of heavy snowfall that remains uncleared in many residential areas of the city.

“I’m fighting the road, man,” said Henok Bereketab, a driver for a moving company, on Tuesday. He said the main roads, while not always as snow packed, have still been slippery.

According to CTV News Edmonton chief meteorologist Josh Classen, the city maxed out at 54 centimetres of snow as of Dec. 28. The average snow depth at the end of December each year, he said, is normally 10 centimetres.

Edmonton hasn’t seen a December record since 2006, when snow measured at a depth of 30 centimetres.

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And while the city has previously said it’s working around the clock to clear priority areas, some Edmontonians wonder when residential roads will have their turn.

“It snowed and there’s been nothing done at all. The alleyways are worse … It’s ridiculous. It’s causing damage to cars,” Juan Vardy told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday.

“We had snowfall more than a week ago, right? So I don’t know what the holdup is.”

Three days over the holidays saw significant snowfall – Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and the day after that. Edmonton has since deployed city-wide parking bans as plows took on the seemingly inexorable task of clearing major roadways, starting over if snow fell again.

City crews tackle roads deemed “high priority” as quickly as possible after snow has stopped falling, then move to Priority 2, Priority 3 and Priority 4 roads within five, six and 10 days, respectively.

The city website lists residential roadways, alleys and back lanes as Priority 4. This means freeways, arterial roadways, business districts, industrial areas and rural roadways, among other things, do take precedence.

Coun. Jon Morgan, in his current capacity as deputy mayor in Andrew Knack’s absence, said he believes the city is struggling to keep up with an abundance of snow and capricious temperatures.

“With finite resources of equipment and people power, we have to triage our response, and so priority areas are given first priority, and I think the crews are doing what they can with the resources they have,” he said in an interview Tuesday.

“I think there are some tools in terms of de-icing that we can use. I’ve already kind of heard some of those concerns … so I’ll be looking at ways that we can do that.”

In an emailed statement to CTV News Edmonton, snow and ice program supervisor Val Dacyk said the city was indeed working to keep up with heavy snow accumulation.

A Phase 2 parking ban – wherein parking on residential streets is a fineable offence while crews work to clear the area – is expected in “the coming days,” she added.

Crews also had to restart priority clearing in the last week. The city estimates five days to finish main road snow removal and 10 days to finish remaining removals.

Vehicle concerns

Todd Vincent, the manager of Trail Tire in downtown Edmonton, said it’s always busy at this time of year, but the amount of vehicle damage from general winter woes has been “good for business, not necessarily good for customers.”

“We’re getting a lot of broken and bent rims, control arm damage, stuff like that,” he said on Tuesday. “It’s the time of year where people are losing control, or driving a little too fast.”

With motorists bouncing off snow banks or maneuvering out of snow ruts, Vincent added the shop has also seen missing front bumpers, ripped off after getting out of piles of packed snow.

“With all this textured snow, I’m assuming (business) is going to get busier,” he said.

Dacyk said a driver whose vehicle has been damaged by a pothole or rut and believes the city is responsible can submit a claim. The city website, however, notes that less than 10 per cent of submitted claims in 2018 met legal criteria and were determined to be valid.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Marek Tkach, Jeremy Thompson and Josh Classen