With snow tonight and freezing rain, City advises to stay off roads

City crews have been working 24 hours a day to apply salt and brine treatments for the coming snow while cleaning up significant snow accumulations from the recent snowfall. With up to 25 centimetres of snow forecasted overnight into Friday, followed by possible freezing rain, roads will be exceptionally slippery. We ask residents to only take essential travel to stay safe while also keeping roads clear for crews treating snow, ice, and flooding issues, and for emergency vehicles.

If you must be on the roads

• Equip your vehicle with the right tires External website, opens in new tab for the conditions.
• Learn about preparing an emergency kit for your vehicle External website, opens in new tab and what to do if you get stuck.
• If your car is parked on a major route, move it to a side street to make room for plows and City trucks.
• Plan travel according to our prioritized treatment plan.
• Check DriveBC External website, opens in new tab and Translink External website, opens in new tab for updates.

Priority routes for snow and ice treatment

We prioritize snow and ice treatment with a focus on:

• Major roads and bus routes
• Bridges and bridge sidewalks
• Main streets adjacent to major hospitals
• The four major pedestrian pathways:
  • Arbutus Greenway
  • Central Valley Greenway
  • False Creek Seawall
  • Coal Harbour Seawall
• The 16 most-used bike routes

Residential side streets are not included as part of our treatment plan, with the exception of priority hills and access routes to hospitals and schools.

How you can help

Residents also play an important role in keeping our city safe.

• Remove snow before it hardens to ice. Vancouver property owners and tenants are responsible for clearing snow and ice from the full width of sidewalks that surround their property each day, by 10am when there is snow on the sidewalk or freezing temperatures, as a key measure to promote the safety and accessibility of routes. This bylaw is in effect seven days a week and failure to do so can result in fines.
• Consider signing up for the Snow Angel Program where volunteers are matched with people with mobility issues to help clear their sidewalks.

In addition to temporary winter shelters, extreme weather response shelters and warming centres are open every night from November to March.

Find the most up-to-date information on our social media pages and the EWRMetroVan Twitter feed External website, opens in new tab