Thunder Bay Snowfalls Make for Road Work Marathon

THUNDER BAY – News – Thunder Bay City road clearing crews have had a busy December. There have been several snowfalls that have challenged crews over the past four weeks. Factor in the cold temperatures and shifting temperatures and the challenge has grown.

Cold weather is hard on equipment too. The mechanics working on snow clearing equipment have had their hands full too.

Calendar Parking Rules Help Crews

One area where residents can help is by following the Calendar Parking by-law. James Coady, is Thunder Bay’s Manager for the Parking Authority. Coady comments, “People need to park legally per 9AM to 5PM calendar parking restrictions in residential areas at all times during the winter once the snow hits”.

“They also need to abide by the 2AM to 7AM restrictions during the winter,” adds Coady.

The city snow removal crews have a set process for clearing roads following a storm. The priority roadways are first, then transit routes, and then residential streets.

Coady says, commenting on the need to observe the calendar parking “As these roads are generally main routes and they need to be wide and safe to use, to help ensure emergency vehicle access.  If they don’t roads crews will have to plow around vehicles and they can’t push the snow to the curb.  This reduces the road width and most definitely creates an unsafe traffic condition because roads become narrow often with one very narrow lane to travel on”.

Priority route restrictions apply from Nov. 15 to April 30. Signs indicate that vehicles cannot park from 2 am to 7am and apply every night. The restrictions ensure that streets designated as priority routes for use by service/emergency vehicles can be properly maintained during the winter months. The restriction lasts until the end of April to guarantee that unpredictable late season weather does not prevent the proper road maintenance of roads used by emergency vehicles.