Snow and Winter Road Maintenance
Actions Following Snowfall Events
The City of Yellowknife would like to inform residents that during heavy snowfall, our priority is to ensure safe driving conditions on high-use, high-priority roads. To maintain traffic flow, snow may need to be pushed from the center of the road toward the curbs. This can create snow ridges across driveway entrances and cause snow to accumulate on sidewalks, which residents will need to clear. If possible, we encourage residents to assist with sidewalk clearing. As per Highway Traffic By-Law No. 5055, please avoid shoveling snow from driveways or ridges back onto the street, as this can create traffic hazards.
Winter Road Maintenance Activities, Methodology, and Priorities
- Sanding: This increases traction on slippery surfaces, with sand primarily applied at intersections, turning lanes, and hills.
- Snow Plowing: This levels driving surfaces covered with fresh snow or hard-packed, uneven areas.
- Snow Removal: This involves scraping down snow and ice and hauling it away.
Road Prioritization System
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Primary Priorities: Freeways, major arterial roads, emergency routes, main bus routes, and roads near environmentally sensitive areas.
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Secondary Priorities: Remaining arterial roads, additional bus routes, roads in the Central Business District, streets near schools, routes to prioritized City facilities, and other emergency routes.
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Tertiary Priorities: All other City roads, City-owned parking lots, and alleyways.
Snow Removal Details
- Process: Snow removal involves using graders, loaders, and snow-hauling trucks to clear snow and ice from roads.
- Season: Typically runs from December to late April, with adjustments based on temperature and snowfall.
- Frequency: Residential areas are usually serviced once per season, while the downtown core is cleared twice.
- Notifications: Residents are informed of upcoming snow removal via radio ads and signs placed 24 hours before removal.
- Timing: Snow removal begins at 12:00 a.m. and occurs early in the morning to avoid conflicts with motorists, pedestrians, and children at play. Expect bright lights and noise from heavy equipment; please be patient, as this timing is chosen to minimize disruptions. Additional seasonal staff and contractors support this operation.
- Parking: Residents must move parked vehicles by midnight on the scheduled day to avoid towing.
- Traffic: Expect delays in snow removal areas and consider alternate routes if possible.
- Driveway Entries: Snow removal may result in a drop-off at driveway entrances, typically 100-300mm (4-12 inches) in height, depending on accumulation. Residents may need to create a ramp from the driveway to street level, as this is not provided by the City.
- Driving Tips: If driving before snow removal is complete, please keep to the right of any snow piles in the street center.
The City thanks you for your patience and reminds residents to use caution in snow removal areas and avoid passing moving equipment.
Snow Removal & Garbage Pick-Up
The City of Yellowknife needs your cooperation with snow removal and garbage pickup in your area. Please ensure streets are clear of obstacles for operators to perform snow removal in the early hours of the morning. Signs are placed 24 hours in advance in areas of snow removal so residents are aware snow removal will be taking place. The City would also like to remind residents that once garbage bins have been emptied to return them to your property so streets are clear for snow road maintenance.
The City appreciates your assistance in this matter to ensure a smooth snow removal transition.
For a map of snow plowing and sanding priorities, please visit the CityExplorer map tool.
Snow Removal from Sidewalks
See our Sidewalk Cleaning page for information on snow removal from sidewalks.
Snow Removal Schedules
The snow removal schedules for the upcoming weeks can be found below. If residents have questions with regards to snow removal or would like to flag a street or neighborhood that requires immediate attention, please contact the City of Yellowknife’s customer service desk at (867) 920-5600 or raise your concern via Click and Fix YK. Please note that the snow removal team will take into account current road conditions as well as the overall work plan for snow removal when assessing and addressing the issues raised.
| Snow Removal Schedule December 30 - January 3 |
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Monday, December 30, 2024
Tuesday, December 31, 2024
Wednesday, January 1, 2025
Thursday, January 2, 2025
Friday, January 3, 2025
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| Snow Removal Schedule December 23 - December 27 |
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Monday, December 23, 2024
Tuesday, December 24, 2024
Wednesday, December 25, 2024
Thursday, December 26, 2024
Friday, December 27, 2024
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| Snow Removal Schedule December 16 - December 20 |
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Monday, December 16, 2024
Tuesday, December 17, 2024
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
Thursday, December 19, 2024
Friday, December 20, 2024
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Frequently Asked Questions
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Why are the roads so rough this year? |
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| What is the City doing about the road conditions? |
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The City of Yellowknife has seven staff assigned to snow removal activities during the night, and three during the day. Staff continue to work diligently to complete their tasks and clear the roads. Overtime hours are consistently worked to keep up with the demand of snow removal in Yellowknife. |
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Why isn’t the City fixing the rutting on many City Streets? |
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The City of Yellowknife is working to fix ruts, however specific conditions are needed to fully clear the ruts. Typically, there are parked cars that have to be removed by residents or towed to ensure the area is clear and can be scraped. The City does scrape roads at regular intervals to level out rutting, but vehicles tend to continue to follow the ruts, which blows the bladed snow back out of the rut. |
| Why doesn't the City just plow all roads constantly? |
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The City of Yellowknife does not possess the proper resources to do this. The City works as diligently as it can with the current equipment to clear the roads (as outlined in the questions above). |
| Why doesn't the City hire more contractors to help with snow removal? |
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The City of Yellowknife must complete snow removal within the allocated budget resources. The City does engage contractors when extraordinary events necessitate such action. This help can be difficult to secure, as many local contractors have prior commitments and cannot leave them to assist the City. |
| Why doesn't the City hire more staff to do more snow removal? |
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As mentioned in the question above, the City of Yellowknife must complete snow removal within the allocated budget resources. If the City were to hire additional staff, a large number of new equipment pieces would also need to be purchased to see a significant difference. Additional storage space, which the City currently doesn’t have, would be required to store more equipment pieces. At this time, the budget does not support the hiring of new staff or the purchasing of new equipment or storage space. |
| Why doesn't the City budget for larger snow events? |
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City of Yellowknife staff track weather trends to obtain facts and provide data-driven analysis to support requests for increased budgets. Budget 2024 includes an additional $150,000 for contracted snow removal costs. |
| Why does the City still do snow removal the same way? |
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The City of Yellowknife has adapted its snow removal practices over the last decade and the method used is the most effective and efficient use of staff and equipment resources based on current weather patterns. Practices in other parts of Canada cannot be adapted to our community because of the uniqueness of weather patterns in the North. |
| Why is the City doing low priority areas at this time? |
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| Historical Data Set |
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Updated on November 20, 2024 Source: Government of Canada website
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| Snow Maintenance Activities |
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The City of Yellowknife’s snow maintenance activities consist of snow plowing and maintenance, street sanding, and snow removal.
Each activity has a service level based on a road priority system. These can be seen in City Explorer.
This priority system considers multiple factors, such as:
Snow plowing and road maintenance (grading), which is completed on a daily basis, is relatively quick and covers a large area of town in a shorter amount of time. This is done throughout the winter months, from the first snowfall until asphalt is bare in the spring.
Snow removal is the complete closure of a street with advanced notice. It is slower and requires more staff and equipment. Approximately 400-600 meters of snow removal can be cleared per shift on main roads like Franklin Avenue and Old Airport Road due to the width. On smaller streets, snow removal can range from 600-800 meters per shift. This depends on complications such as parked cars and the amount of snow placed on the roadway from residents.
The regular snow removal schedule is approximately 18 weeks. This accounts for snow removal on Franklin and Old Airport Road multiple times due to its importance and lower priority streets having one instance of snow removal. There is a window of flexibility to accommodate cold weather shut downs, like the community has seen this year.
Large snow events mean service levels increase, which are reflected in staff overtime hours and increased contracted costs. These events can usually be accommodated within approved budgets or within the Public Works and Engineering departmental variance.
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