Copy: Chief Administrative Officer, General Manager Corporate Services, General Manager Engineering
NOTE FROM GENERAL MANAGER ENGINEERING: On January 11th, 2024, City crews commenced anti-icing (brining) at 12:00 am that morning. The City’s entire network of priority roads (MRNs, P1s, P2s, and P3s) was serviced by 12:00pm. The snow came promptly just prior to the peak hour commute at temperatures hovering 0°C resulting in the snow melting and diluting the road treatment. The temperature rapidly dropped to -7°C freezing the melted snow to ice over our roads. As temperatures plummeted below -16°C later that night the effectiveness of salt completely diminishes. Our snow removal crews were not able to access areas with the heavy traffic congestion. Once vehicles were cleared our roads crews were able to service all City roads within 24-48 hours. It is important to note that on mid-day snow events, many commuters in the morning are not winter-ready and underestimate the rapid change in forecast. Given the geographical location and size of Burnaby, we received thousands of more commuters in comparison to Port Coquitlam. Presently, our crews are fully activated on snow and ice management, and we continue to monitor the weather conditions to optimize our response measures.