Stay off the roads.
That’s the message city officials and police have for motorists, as snow continues to fall across New Westminster.
The New Westminster Police Department issued an emergency alert at 9:45 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 14 stating that 20th Street (southbound from 10th Avenue) and Cumberland Street (From East Eighth Avenue to East Columbia Street) are currently closed due to bad road conditions.
Just after 11:30 a.m., the NWPD said Queens Avenue at Mowat Street was closed. While Eighth Avenue is not closed, police asked that it be avoided if possible.
“If you don’t have to drive in New West today, don’t drive,” said the NWPD alert.
At 7:44 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 14, Environment Canada issued a special weather statement for parts of Metro Vancouver, including New Westminster, stating the potential for snow continues this morning.
“Convective bands of precipitation continue to move across the Lower Mainland under an unstable air mass. Most of the precipitation is expected to fall as rain showers but the potential for wet snow with local accumulations will persist this morning,” said Environment Canada. “Local accumulations of up to five centimetres of wet snow may be possible under the more intense bands of convective precipitation and may affect road conditions for the morning commute.”
Information about the City of New Westminster’s snow-removal routes is found at www.newestcity.ca.
“New Westminster has been hit particularly hard with this snowfall,” said Ashleigh Young, a communications officer with the city, in an email to the Record. “Our crews are out, but the slow-moving traffic is making it challenging for our trucks to plow and salts the roads. Anyone who doesn’t need to be on the roads today should avoid driving. This will make it easier for our crews to access roads and clear faster.”
The city’s street and traffic bylaw requires property owners and occupants of residences to remove snow and ice from sidewalks abutting their property by no later than 10 a.m. of the day following a snowfall event. They’re asked to clear the sidewalk down to bare concrete to ensure accessibility for all citizens, to avoid shoveling snow onto the street and to avoid using table, rock salt, or a sodium-based product as it will damage the surface of the sidewalk.
Follow Theresa McManus on Twitter @TheresaMcManus
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