After watching vehicles struggle to make it up 15th Avenue on Sunday, a Prince George resident is calling for more to be done when it comes to clearing snow away from emergency routes.
Patrick Barry said he made multiple calls to the city's snow line on Sunday following the weekend's heavy snowfall.
He said multiple vehicles, including a city bus, couldn't get up the inclined stretch of 15th Avenue in front of the University Hospital of Northern B.C.
"The number one thing in the city is the hospital," Barry said, adding he was concerned over access to the hospital for ambulances, staff and patients.
The city's guidelines for cleaning up after a snowfall prioritizes certain roads with certain timelines. Fifteenth Avenue is included in the priority one routes that are supposed to be plowed within 48 hours after the snow stops falling.
These include main arterial roads, downtown's central business district, priority hills, the hospital district and civic facilities entrances, priority parking lots and pathways. Priority two routes to also be cleared within 48 hours are bus routes that aren't on main arterial roads and all commercial and industrial roads. Residential streets are to be completed within 72 hours after priority two roads are finished.
"It's not about what they were doing, it's about what they weren't doing," said Barry. "Who ignored the hospital?"
According to city spokesperson Michael Kellett, city and contract snow-clearing crews began their work at 7 a.m. on Sunday.
"An important piece of this is that some highly travelled priority one routes are too busy to be cleared during the day, and so the city plows the slightly less travelled priority two roads and priority one roads during the day shift in order to minimize traffic disruption," Kellett said. "One such busy route is the section of 15th Avenue in front of the hospital."
Most of 15th Avenue, including the stretch in front of the hospital was cleared overnight on Sunday, he added.
A spokesperson for Northern Health did not relay any concerns about the snow clearing in the area.
"We work hard with the city of Prince George and BC Emergency Health Services (BC Ambulance Service) to ensure that roads around the hospital are cleared in a timely manner for emergency vehicles and patients attending the hospital," said Jonathon Dyck.
"The roads around the hospital are considered priority 1 for the city of Prince George in their snow operations, and they work hard to clear these streets according to their guidelines."
Trapped in the driveway
Ileen Heer, 72, said she was also disappointed by the city's response after her Ross Crescent driveway was left blocked by plows on Tuesday.
Heer said she called the city to report it shortly before noon. By mid-afternoon she hadn't heard anything back and when she called again she was told a foreman would be along to look at it.
Heer said she still hadn't received a phone call or a knock at her door by 5 p.m. But by then, after chipping away at the mess bit by bit all day and finally getting some help from a neighbour, it was cleared by hand.
"If I waited for him (the foreman), my driveway would never be passable," Heer said.
The city clears the opening of driveways to allow for "reasonable access" for vehicles.
"Reasonable access essentially means an emergency vehicle should be able to drive into and out of a residential driveway without undue risk of becoming stuck in the snow and ice," said Kellett.
If a driveway entrance is unintentionally missed, crews work to clear it as soon as possible, he said, but only if that standard isn't met.
"It is up to the crew member to make the call as to whether the driveway can be reasonably accessed," Kellett said.
Residents who don't think they have reasonable access to their driveway after city snow clearing are encouraged to call 250-561-7600 or email [email protected].
"It's not acceptable, not for a senior. There's no excuse," said Heer, who has lived at her current residence for four years and hasn't had any issues in the past.
"They've got lots of money, they can take a couple of minutes to come back."
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