PENTICTON – The City of Penticton reported this morning crews were being kept busy just keeping main arteries, emergency routes, steep hills and main transit routes open as snow continues to pound the city and region.

“Given the significant snowfall, it’s likely crews will have to circle back and do these routes again before moving onto priority two areas,” City of Penticton Communications Officer Simone Blais says.

Priority two areas include secondary collector routes, industrial routes, school zones and minor transit routes. Blais admitted the city is having a tough time getting to school zones, industrial and residential areas as snow continues to fall.

“Until it lets up, or slackens off, it’s going to be difficult to get a handle on it,” Blais says. “Crews were out from 4 p.m. until 10 p.m. yesterday, and started this morning at 4 a.m. We have every employee and every piece of equipment out there working right now.”

Simone urged residents to do what they could to remove snow from sidewalks.

Mike Palosky, Transportation Supervisor for Berry and Smith Trucking, contractors for the school district and B.C. Transit, said he believes School District 67’s buses out of
Penticton are the only ones running “for quite a distance.” He says school bus routes were all covered, although some were running late. The bus route up Carmi Road was not completed due to a tractor trailer that had jacknifed and blocked the road.

Palosky says transit operations were running quite smoothly considering conditions, with some routes running a few minutes behind schedule.

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