Where did all the snow go? Crews hit downtown

• Around 15 pieces of equipment deployed
• Snow removed overnight
• Snow taken to Apple Bowl

The whole of Kelowna is under a massive blanket of accumulated snow after a very eventful winter so far.

However, the downtown is starting to look a lot cleaner than it has of late thanks to the City's first snow removal project in five years.

With upwards of 35 cm of the white stuff falling in recent weeks, very large piles have built up because of all the snowplow activity.

After days of configuration and planning, the city has begun removing as much as they can, starting with the downtown core.

“We’ll probably be out here [another] four days to clean the entire downtown,” Geert Bos, Public Works Manager told Kelowna10 during the start of operations Saturday night. “Then we’ll move onto the Pandosy side and then Rutland.”

The entire operation has around 15 pieces of machinery and over 17 personnel helping clear things in an orchestrated dance.

“We use two [graders] that pile the snow up [in] a big windrow in the middle of the road, so the snow blower can come in and blow it into the dump trucks,” Bos said.

“Then we’ve got the small units that clean out the sidewalks, the fire hydrants, the garbage bins, etc.”

After snow is put into the dump trucks, it is taken over to the Apple Bowl. The city wants to ensure they are cautious of the environmental impacts of using so many machines, so they keep the dumping areas nearby to keep transportation carbon emissions down.

“We’ve been at this for three hours and [we’ve had] about a thousand cubic metres of snow going out,” Bos explained.

“So, you do this for another five of six days, you’ve got a lot of snow piling up at the Apple Bowl.”

The crew works a 12-hour shift from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. to make sure the snow is removed during low traffic times. Streets surrounding the operating area were closed to ensure the safety of the motoring and pedestrian public.

“We really don’t want anybody in the operating area. The operators basically have their head on a swivel,” Bos said, adding he's appreciative of the efforts from a dedicated team.

“It’s nice to have the equipment, but if we don’t have the operators that are very skilled in doing this, we’re not going anywhere,” Bos said.

“Big 'Thank you' to the team here in Kelowna. Best team in the business for snow removal.”