Willow River residents are angry and concerned for their safety as poor snowplowing is increasingly narrowing roads to the point where some are simply a single lane.
Yellowhead Road and Bridge (YRB) is contracted by the B.C. Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to plow the roads in the community 25 kilometres northeast of Prince George. Resident Dave Zukewich, a retired snowplow operator himself, said there is no reason why the roads should be so narrow when substantially less snow has fallen than last year.
"I ran grader for years. They have no supervision. It's not right," Zukewich said.
Compacted snow has piled up on the shoulders and edges of the traffic lanes, narrowing many streets and
intersections to a single useful lane, he said.
When the weather warms up, the snow piled on the shoulders melts and the water pools on the roadways then freezes, said Zukewich. Compacted ice was visible along the roads when The Citizen visited Willow River last week.
"You can see where it [water] is
running across the road," Zukewich said.
He said he's called YRB multiple times to complain, but nothing has been done about the problem.
Lifelong Willow River resident Terry Brommeland said, despite the light snowfall this year, the plowing service is worse than in previous years.
"I've lived here 69 years and this is the worst I've ever seen it," Brommeland said. "They're not pushing it back. When the cars come here, they have to pull into my driveway so other cars can pass."
On Feb. 14 Brommeland said it had been eight days since the last snowfall, and there had been no plowing on his street.
"We phone them and phone them and phone them. Who's looking after these guys?" he said.
Regional District of Fraser-Fort George director Kevin Dunphy said snowplowing is a frequent topic of conversation in his store. Dunphy lives and operates a business in Willow River, in addition to representing the area on the regional district board.
"The general feeling is YRB is not performing as well as in past years," Dunphy said. "Are they keeping up with their standards? I'm not the person to judge that. But there is probably room for
improvement."
The intersection of Portage Road and Upper Fraser Road is particularly dangerous, Dunphy said. A serious collision happened at the intersection earlier this year, he added.
"We're having more truck traffic then we've had in other years, because of the logging in the area."
Dunphy said the regional district doesn't have direct influence on the road maintenance in the region, which is managed provincially. However YRB has been co-operative when he has called with concerns, he added.
Ministry satisfied
by plowing
YRB did not return multiple calls from The Citizen over a week. However, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure said ministry staff have inspected the roads in Willow River and are satisfied with YRB's performance.
"Based on the monitoring and auditing conducted in this area, we have found that the maintenance contractor has met or exceeded the requirements in the maintenance contract this season as well as in the past," the spokesperson said.
According to Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure standards for roads contractors, set out in schedule 21, highway contractors are required to remove snow from the full width of traffic lanes, and keep shoulders clear in areas of high pedestrian use.
For rural streets, class C and D roads, ministry standards require compacted snow be removed from traffic lanes within seven to 21 days. Compacted snow and ice must be pushed beyond the shoulder edge of the road within 10 to 24 days.
Although anecdotal reports indicate standards are not being held up, the ministry is not concerned, said the
spokesperson.
"Ministry staff... have found that there have not been any major issues with winter maintenance, and any minor concerns have been addressed by the contractor as soon as they have been identified."
However, when contacted by The Citizen, the ministry said it would look into complaints.
"We will immediately be conducting an inspection to follow-up on the concerns about narrow roads in the
community," the spokesperson said.
The ministry will be reaching out to Willow River residents to address their concerns, the spokesperson added.
