Revamping snow clearing, sidewalk repair on the docket for Edmonton city committee
The city spends $67 million on snow and ice control each year
The City of Edmonton's community and public services committee is set to make recommendations to council on how to potentially update snowing clearing and sidewalk repair policies to improve accessibility.
City administration will present options to the committee, detailed in a public report, including proactively repairing sidewalks and getting more snow plows on the road.
If committee receives the report for information — which is Administration's recommended action — Administration will continue with option one, which it says will reprioritize resources without impacting the budget.
Option one would aim to clear "high social vulnerability areas" earlier.
Other options could include adding various numbers of equipment, sidewalk repair and staff.
The total budget for snow and ice control is $67 million each year.
As Edmonton has grown, so too has the total length of public sidewalks, with a increase of eight per cent over the past 10 years.
In 2022, a high priority sidewalk index was created for each sidewalk block in Edmonton and looks at various factors.
These include pedestrian volume, proximity to places like schools, senior centres, high frequency bus stops, as well as the social vulnerability index, which looks at how various populations in Edmonton rely on sidewalk access.
Those factors are part of the process in making recommendations to committee, administration said.
Both sidewalk maintenance and enforcement services would retain their existing model under option one, which administration would pursue if the committee recommends it.
The city manages close to 5,776 kilometres of public sidewalks with a $5.9 million annual operating budget dedicated to sidewalk maintenance, while minor and major capital renewals are funded separately.
The report, and other options, will be presented to the community and public services committee on Aug. 11 where councillors will vote on whether to recommend changes to all of city council.