Why it costs so much more to clear snow from sidewalks, bike lanes than roads
The City of Edmonton spends close to the same amount clearing snow from 11,000 linear kilometres of roads as it does clearing it from about 1,500 kilometres of active pathways and other pedestrian spaces.
The annual snow and ice control budget is $67 million. The city spends about 55%, or $36.85 million, clearing roads across Edmonton and 45%, or $30.15 million, clearing anything else not classified as a road, like bike lanes, multi-use paths, public pedestrian squares, bus stops, LRT platforms, and staircases.
It's no question that active transportation infrastructure is much cheaper to maintain when snow is not flying. It costs about $178 per kilometre to replace, repair, and maintain active pathways, and $1,285 per kilometre to do the same for roads. But on snow days — the city had 25 snow events last winter — it costs more to clear active transportation infrastructure than it does roadways.
"(Clearing) active pathways ... of all types is more expensive," Valerie Dacyk, supervisor of infrastructure field operations at the City of Edmonton, told Taproot.
The costs to clear different types of pedestrian infrastructure vary greatly, Dacyk said. To clear a separated bike lane, one staff member pushes a machine down the lane, and it's done relatively quickly. Meanwhile, brick sidewalks or crosswalks, like those on Rice Howard Way, for example, require staff to remove ice using hard-bristle brooms. "Otherwise, the snow packs down, freezes, thaws, and causes ice layers," Dacyk said. "Whereas if you just have an asphalt crosswalk, it's all flat." Some pedestrian areas are even cleared the old-fashioned way — with a shovel — due to size and space constraints.
Active transportation options are also cleared to a different standard than roads, Dacyk said. "People on two legs are just a little bit less stable than cars on four wheels, so we just have to do that little bit extra for pedestrian (areas)."
The city's goal is to clear the priority bike lane network to bare pavement within 24 hours of a snowfall, and almost all other pedestrian areas to a "safe and passable surface" within three days of a snowfall. Meanwhile, for roads, the city aims to clear freeways, arterial roads, and business districts to bare pavement within one day; collector roads to bare pavement within five days; industrial roads to bare pavement in six days; and residential roads to a five-centimetre snowpack within 14 days.
The city is adding more bike infrastructure across the city. Council approved a $100-million investment over three years in the 2022-2026 budget to add 71 kilometres of bike infrastructure across the city. Plus, in June, council reviewed the new proposed Complete Streets policy that would require collector roads to have a shared-use pathway on one side, which the city would then be required to clear. The city will also consider adding new bike lanes in areas like Wîhkwêntôwin when these areas receive scheduled neighbourhood renewal.
City administration often works to cut operating costs and minimize tax increases. But the new cycling infrastructure could put pressure on the operating budget in the winter season.
Dacyk acknowledged that and said the city is always trying to find ways to reduce costs.
"We're testing new equipment as it becomes available, and we're consistently watching industry to see what the next best way of doing things is, because we are pushing towards being a winter city with pedestrian traffic," Dacyk said. "We understand it takes a little bit more, but we're doing our best to decrease those costs as well as increase the efficiency for it so people can rely upon it."
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