City of Vancouver to buy snow plow vehicles for pedestrian sidewalks | Daily Hive

An example of a tracked snow removal vehicle in use for a pedestrian sidewalk in Montreal. (Prinoth)

The City of Vancouver is adding more snow removal equipment to its fleet, specifically to handle the clearing of snow from pedestrian sidewalks.

A recently launched bidding process seeks a supplier for two tracked snow removal vehicles for the city’s Street Operations division to clear snow from various sidewalks around the city, including on major bridges.

You might also like:

The procurement process to acquire these miniature plows will end later this spring, and it is assumed the vehicles will be ready for operations in time for the upcoming winter.

This follows public and media criticism over the past winter, when pedestrian sidewalks on the seawall and greenways were left slick after major snowfalls, while the parallel bike lanes were cleared first instead.

Bike lane plowed first instead of the parallel sidewalk on the Arbutus Greenway in late December 2021. (Tricia Barker/Twitter)

In 2018, the municipal government acquired two miniature plows, bringing its fleet of miniature plows to at least six vehicles. These vehicles fit on bike lanes and other narrow paths, but not necessarily pedestrian paths.

This past winter, the municipal government stated it had over 100 pieces of equipment for snow removal.

Miniature snow plow on a Vancouver bike lane

Miniature snow plow owned by the City of Vancouver on a bike lane. (Lanefab/Twitter)

In 2020, according to an internal memo, following city council’s direction, city staff established a “Winter Priority Sidewalk” designation that designates 255 km of sidewalk as priority for clearing based on all sidewalks within 100 metres of a hospital, arterial sidewalks within 400 metres of a SkyTrain station, arterial sidewalks within 200 metres of a RapidBus or B-Line stop, and all sidewalks within 100 metres of a community centre. Most of these designated priority sidewalks are the responsibility of private property owners, with the city now increasing enforcement and compliance.

The city’s internal sidewalk snow clearing responsibilities entail 3.16 km of pedestrian pathways, 13.5 km of bridges and viaducts, 47.4 km of corner ramps, 9.4 km of bus stops, and 0.6 km of mini-parks. The maximum response time from end of snowfall ranges from 12 hours to seven days for pedestrian pathways, 12 hours for bridges and viaducts, and seven days for the remaining area types.

The Vancouver Park Board also treats 82 km of sidewalk and pedestrian areas within its jurisdiction in parks and at community centres using 16 pieces of mechanized equipment.

Overall, 2,113 km of sidewalks across the city are the obligation of the adjacent private property owner.

Snow removal vehicle on the Coal Harbour seawall in downtown Vancouver. (Shutterstock)

A big snowfall season in 2016-2017 prompted the municipal government to invest in more equipment to clear sidewalks and other areas used by pedestrians. According to the city, its annual snow readiness budget is $1.8 million, although the average total spent is $5.4 million.

In contrast, the City of Toronto, which has a significantly larger geographical area and experiences substantially more snowfall, spends about $90 million annually on snow and ice removal. It has 600 snow plows, 360 sidewalk plows, 200 salt trucks, and 1,500 personnel for winter operations

For further comparison, Edmonton’s annual snow removal budget is about $60 million, Toronto is $90 million, Ottawa is $70 million, and Montreal is $166 million.

You might also like: