In the first three months of 2019, the City of Greater Sudbury spent $ 2.9 million more than the winter road maintenance budget. According to an employee of the City, this would be due to extreme weather conditions.
City of Greater Sudbury Director of Roads and Transportation, Randy Halverson, says spending is mainly due to the record snowfall the city experienced last winter.
Nearly four meters of snow! he expresses himself. This is a significant amount of snow. I would say that usually we have about three meters of snow a year.
He explains that twice as much snow as the average fell in January and February.
The snowbanks were so high that they caused visibility problems.
The region has also experienced several consecutive snowstorms, freezing rain and extreme cold.These events can complicate snow removal and incur additional costs.
The snow accumulation required 10 general interventions by our road maintenance staff , Halverson said.
During a "general response", the City must deploy all its personnel and contractors to deal with winter conditions, which can occur after a large amount of snow, freezing rain or a mixture of precipitation, explains the director. .
When you combine snow and rain, conditions become slippery, very, very fast , he explains.
According to the director, the winter road maintenance budget of $ 18.5 million for this year includes more than just snow removal.
March is actually one of the busiest months for road maintenance, says Halverson.
In addition to snow removal, salting and sanding, we also need to sweep the arteries and sidewalks, open the drainage structures and repair the potholes.
Councilors Deb McIntosh and Geoff McCausland also introduced a motion to examine what the City can do in the future to better deal with significant weather events.
City officials will prepare a report outlining possible protocols and policies and how to adjust services to deal with these events in time for next winter.