Kitchener trying to shift stubborn snow as residents continue to raise concerns

Plows were back on the streets to try to remove stubborn snowpack. CTV’s Jeff Pickel reports.

A recent spate of warm weather is giving some cities a chance to scrape up stubborn snowpack that has plagued roads for weeks.

The City of Kitchener told CTV News that as of 3 a.m. Thursday, they were in a “full plow” event to try and move the loosening hard packed snow.

It has been a busy time for snowplow drivers, with the city’s first full plow response of the winter triggered on Nov. 9.

It has also been a difficult few months for drivers who have had to find somewhere to put their vehicles during snow events, when all on-street parking is banned to give snowplow operators room to work.

“On average, we have about four snow events a year,” Roslyn Lusk, director of operations, roads and traffic for the City of Kitchener, said. “In addition to the snow events, we have actually deployed our full plow responses about 12 times. So, we have been working nonstop.”

As of January 29, 205.5 cm of snow had been recorded at the University of Waterloo’s weather station throughout the season.

Lusk said it’s a far cry from what they were dealing with previously.

“In comparison to last year, at the end of January we only had about 50 to 57 cm of snow at that time,” she explained.

According to the city’s website, roads are cleared based on set priority levels, with main and arterial roads used by Grand River Transit (GRT) buses considered high priority, followed by streets with steep hills, sharp curves and other GRT bus routes. The last areas to be addressed are residential and back streets.

“When it’s busy, I mean, they have to keep traffic flowing,” Brian Apps who lives in on Four Seasons Court said. As of Thursday, Four Seasons Court was still covered in snow. “There was about a week where there was a lot of heavy snowfall similar to about a foot a snow. So I totally would not expect it during that.”

However, as the snow fall eased, and some streets remained snow covered, frustrations grew.

“It occurred to me that an ambulance wouldn’t be able to get properly down to the end of the street. So it became a safety concern for me,” Apps said.

The city is calling for patience and urges concerned residents to reach out.