Snow clearing operations explained at this week's Corner Brook city council meeting

Assistant Director of Engineering, Andrew Miller, says there are five salt/sand/or a mixture trucks, 8 front end loaders with a front blade and a wing on the side, 2 sidewalk blowers and 2 larger roadway blowers.

During Monday’s public meeting, there was a presentation on how the city of Corner Brook handles its snow clearing approach with the equipment and resources on hand. Assistant Director of Engineering, Andrew Miller, says there are five salt/sand/or a mixture trucks, 8 front end loaders with a front blade and a wing on the side, 2 sidewalk blowers and 2 larger roadway blowers. He says there are well over 146 kms of roadways in the city that make up over 340 roads with hundreds of intersections, and snow clearing is divided into seven routes. This includes the townsite area, O’Connell Drive, Country Road, Humbermouth, Sunnyslope area, Elizabeth Street, and Curling. 

Miller says once priority one roads have been done, the focus shifts to smaller roads, or priority two, in each of those zones, typically to access a residential property. He says if there is an emergency call on a smaller road, snowclearing equipment will be sent right away. 

As part of Budget 2026, funding has been set aside to buy a new combined plow and salt truck, which will go to tender soon and be available for next winter. Miller says this will mean faster plowing and will be a smaller version of what us being used by the Department of Highways. 

As well, more funding has been allocated for sidewalk snow clearing this year and Miller says that means keeping people in the seats of equipment as much as possible. He says it’s been a challenging winter so far with over 240 cms of snow by January 19th, double the amount from the same time last year.