It's all hands on deck as Delta's engineering department is trying to ensure the city's main roads are drivable.
Heavy snowfall blanked the region on Monday night and into Tuesday morning, however, the forecast has bitterly cold temperatures for the region and snow returning Thursday evening.
The engineering department updated the Optimist Tuesday afternoon, noting crews have established 12-hour shifts that are providing 24/7 snow removal coverage until further notice.
Crews spent the evening working on priority one routes as snowfall was extremely heavy throughout the night.
As weather has eased up, crews began to see some progress on all priority one routes and have begun working on priority two roadways.
As far as who is responsible for the various Delta routes, the engineering department notes that the province is responsible for Highways 17, 17A, 91 and 99 including the George Massey Tunnel and the Alex Fraser Bridge.
Provincial jurisdictions are looked after by a contractor, Mainroad Contracting.
Delta crews look after the west side of Scott Road in North Delta and the City of Surrey is responsible for the east side of Scott Road.
When it comes to Ladner Trunk Road, Delta crews look after the section between Highway 17A to Highway 91 in both directions. The province's contractor looks after Highway 10 from Highway 91 to Highway 1.
A recent staff report on the city's snow and ice response to council said the Ladner Worksyard was fully stocked with 1,300 metric tonnes of salt.
The North Delta Worksyard was also stocked with approximately 1,300 metric tonnes of salt.
As well, the city was securing a contract with Mainroad Contracting that guarantees up to an additional 3,000 metric tonnes of road salt for this season, which in conjunction with the 2,600 metric tonnes currently available in Delta’s salt sheds, would provide a total salt availability of 5,600 metric tonnes.
In addition to road salt, engineering operations continues to make its own salt brine. Salt brine is used to pre-wet the priority routes in anticipation of snow and/or ice events.
Meanwhile, Delta's emergency response protocol line was updated and available as of Nov. 7. It is the direct phone line for police, fire and ambulance to request site-specific snow clearing to provide access during emergencies. Salting trucks will divert from their regular duties to assist with emergency services requests.
Also, steps have been taken to ensure staff coverage during the holiday season and a night shift truck driver will be working seven days a week to reduce response time for snow and ice control from Dec. 1 to March 2023.
The "Winter Road Conditions" phone line (604-952-3820) is available to provide a voice message, updated every four hours during a snow-fighting event, with the current weather situation and Delta's response levels to the public.
