Snow clearing, winter parking and roads

The City maintains roughly 735 km of roads and 200 km of sidewalks. In winter, everything is cleared according to a colour-coded priority system. Knowing your street’s colour tells you roughly when to expect the plow.

The priority system

Look up your street on the City’s snow priority map (linked above).

Priority	What’s included
1: Red	Arterial roads and the sidewalks beside them, downtown streets, lanes and sidewalks, the hospital district, major facility entrances and City parking lots
2: Green	Collector roads, priority hills, commercial and industrial roads, transit routes not already red, and bus stops on red routes
3: Grey	Residential streets and lanes, designated sidewalks, park pathways and minor facility lots

How fast

• A snow event means at least 7.5 cm of snow in 24 hours. Once the snow stops, red and green routes are cleared within 48 hours.
• Grey (residential) routes are then cleared within 72 hours after red and green are finished.
• A heavy snowfall declaration (20 cm or more in 24 hours) adds 24 hours to completion times for each extra 8 cm. Downtown night-time removal also starts an hour earlier.

Lanes that are impractical to plow may be closed for the winter.

Winter parking rules (October 15 to April 15)

On-street parking restrictions keep the roads clear for plows:

Area	No on-street parking
Priority 1 (red) routes and hospital district	10 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Downtown	Midnight to 7 a.m.
Residential streets	8 a.m. to 6 p.m. (overnight, 6 p.m. to 8 a.m., park on the odd-numbered side unless signed)

Illegally parked vehicles get a $50 ticket per offence and can be towed. For year-round parking rules, see parking.

Driveways and windrows

• On curb-and-gutter streets cleared with graders and loaders, crews open standard driveways up to 8 m wide. Loaders can run 20 to 30 minutes behind the grader.
• On streets cleared by truck plows (often streets without curbs), driveways aren’t opened.
• If a qualifying driveway was missed, call 311.
• Wider driveways may not be fully opened if there’s nowhere to put the snow.

Sidewalks

The City clears sidewalks along priority routes and designated pedestrian areas, not every sidewalk. For your own frontage, check the City’s bylaws or call 311.

Sand, salt and ice

• Traction material (crushed rock and sand) goes on intersections, hills, curves and walkways on red and green routes. Grey streets get it only when conditions call for it.
• Liquid salt is used to pre-wet sand and, on red and green roads, for anti-icing up to 24 hours before a storm.
• Rock salt is used after snow removal on red and green routes when surface temperatures are above -7°C.

The City screens out traction particles larger than 9.5 mm, and says finer material would blow away and hurt air quality.

Safety reminders

• Don’t dig snow caves in roadside banks. Plows and snow blowers can bury children.
• Give plows room. They need a minimum speed to throw snow clear.
• If a fire hydrant or utility box is buried with no marker visible, call 311.
• Snow removal is exempt from the noise bylaw, so night work is normal.

Spring street sweeping

Each winter the City spreads about 7,500 to 10,000 tonnes of traction material. Sweeping usually runs from mid-March to early June, 24 hours a day, five days a week:

1. Downtown first (then swept twice a week on nights through summer)
2. Red and green routes
3. Residential areas, in an order that rotates each year

Cars in the way of sweepers can be ticketed or towed. The City posts which areas are complete on its street sweeping page.

Closures and construction

The City’s traffic disruptions map shows current and upcoming closures, detours and sidewalk impacts. The written notice is updated at 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays. For highways (97, 16) and travel out of town, use DriveBC.

Reporting problems

Potholes, streetlights, signs, poor plowing, sanding requests: call 311 (250-561-7600 from outside city limits), email 311@princegeorge.ca, use the cityofpg app, or file an online service request.

Related: parking, transit, emergency services and alerts. Live conditions are on the dashboard.