Feb 11, 2019

Town crews working around the clock to keep roads clear

Town of Ladysmith crews worked through the night and all of Monday to clear local roads. We are once again prepared as another significant snowfall is in the forecast for later today. 

When it starts to snow, our number one priority is to clear all main roads, emergency establishments and the main hills in Town.  

The main roads are 4th Avenue (including Rocky Creek Dip), 1st Avenue,  Dogwood Drive, Davis Road and Chemainus Road.)  Our second priority once the main roads are ploughed is road widening (the snow is pushed back to the curb to make room for traffic, as well as the possibility of another snow fall) and then clearing neighbourhood roads. 

Once we get to the neighbourhood roads, through roads will be cleared first, and then cul-de-sacs.  If the snow continues, or starts again, the crews will return to the priority main roads.  In a heavy snowfall such as the one we experienced yesterday, crews ploughed those main roads several times throughout the day and night.  

Finally, when the snow stops, it takes us about 48 hours to clean all 60km of roads in Ladysmith.

Staff were out driving the main roads, including the Dogwood Dip and the 4th Avenue Rocky Creek Dip,  at about 11:00 on Monday morning and found them to be in good winter driving shape.

That being said, it is essential  that we all drive for the snowy conditions.  Even if a road is ploughed, if you don’t have snow tires on, you likely will have difficulty with our hills. 

And remember, even ploughed, salted and sanded roads can have slush on them.  So drive slowly, leave lots of room between you and the car in front of you, and use low gear when you need to, and lots of patience.

To those who have been asking us to open the Churchill/McKinley route, please note that the intention is to open it only if 4th Avenue becomes impassable and must be closed to traffic.  

Thank you for your patience as we deal with one of the biggest snow events of the past decade.

Read more on our Snow Removal page here.