City of North Bay Public Works crews will be working under new guidelines when it comes to cleaning area sidewalks within the city.
Under the new provincial standard this year, all sidewalks are required to be cleared within 48 hours after a snow event where the accumulation is more than 8 centimetres.
“We have priorities with the city sidewalks just like we have with the city roads,” stated Tanya Vrebosch, chair of engineering and public works with the city of North Bay.
“The ones that are high pedestrian traffic, they get done first right,” she added.
Vrebosch says it’s not easy to get to all the sidewalks that are maintained by the city. She says their fleet of four mini plow vehicles cannot be out on the sidewalks all the time.
“So we always have to work what is within our budget right, and you have to remember if you have a major snow event we cannot have all our staff on all the time because you cannot make them work 24 hours a day,” said Vrebosch.
“So if we are going to have snow for an entire weekend we have to adjust their work schedules to make sure we have trucks out there, that the roads and sidewalks are safe but we also have to make sure our staff are safe and that they are scheduled.”
Much like roads, the city of North Bay has prioritized certain sidewalks ahead of others. Sidewalks adjacent to high-volume roadways with high pedestrian traffic will be the top priority. Sidewalks in the downtown core, including City Hall, North Bay Transit and Discovery Museum will be next. Then it will be school areas and places of worship.
“It is important to note, during an event City crews will focus on ‘opening’ sidewalks,” a recent City of North Bay release stated.
“When the event has passed, crews will then ‘clean-up’ Transit stops, crossings and intersections.”
The City Roads Department has stated it will not open snow banks for pedestrians to access stores or dwellings.
