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Plows clearing everything from city streets to country farms

Shane Ross | CBC News | Posted: February 7, 2024 10:50 PM | Last Updated: February 7

Road clearing on Prince Edward Island is expected to continue into next week

Image | Mike Burris

Caption: Mike Burris, who has a dairy farm on Covehead Road, says he needed something bigger than a tractor or snowblower to clear the snow around his barns. (Rob Leclair/CBC)

Plows continued to move snow off P.E.I. highways, roads, parking lots — and even a dairy farm — on Wednesday.
It's been two days since the Island started to get any relief from a persistent weekend storm that left more than 80 centimetres of snow and drifts several metres high in some areas.
And while city residents were eager to have their streets and sidewalks plowed, farmer Mike Burris just wanted to be able to get to his own barns on the Covehead Road. The drifts were so high the milk trucks couldn't get through.
"I can't get anywhere and, well, you have to get places," he told CBC News.

Media Video | CBC News PEI : 'It's just deep everywhere': P.E.I. continues to dig out from massive snowfall

Caption: Mike Burris owns a dairy farm on Covehead Road. He describes what it's been like recovering from the recent snowstorm. 'Like I need extra work,' he joked while chatting with CBC's Laura Meader.

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Burris ended up calling Eagle Snow Removal to have a bulldozer sent to his farm.
"It's beyond a tractor and snowblower," he said of the storm. "You need something bigger."
Rick MacDonald of Eagle Snow Removal said they've been getting lots of calls for jobs beyond the usual roads and parking lots. On Wednesday, he was just getting around to finishing clearing his own lot.

Image | backhoe

Caption: Backhoes make room for more snow to be dropped off at a site near the Charlottetown Airport where snow from city streets is dumped. (Laura Meader/CBC)

"The boys are really wiped out right now. They're putting in a lot of long hours," he said.
The large amount of snow has made clearing the 250 kilometres of streets within Charlottetown city limits difficult, said Scott Adams, the municipality's manager of public works.
"You'll see our big loaders with big industrial blowers, a lineup of trucks behind it. And what that blower does, it loads each truck to the brim."

Image | Scott Adams

Caption: Scott Adams, manager of public works for the City of Charlottetown, says traffic is a challenge when clearing streets. (Laura Meader/CBC)

The trucks then dump the snow in a large lot on Union Road, and circle back to pick up more.
"Right now the challenge is we're dealing with traffic. So overnight time is not so bad. It's pretty quiet downtown. It's a lot of snow, so it's really slow going as well."

Media Video | CBC News PEI : Cleanup after P.E.I. snowstorm will take 'a few more days'

Caption: The Island is still dealing with the aftermath of a four-day storm that dropped 80 centimetres of snow in some parts of the province. Stephen Szwarc, director of P.E.I.'s highway maintenance division, talks with Compass host Louise Martin on the clean-up efforts.

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The city hopes to have the sidewalks cleared by the end of the week, but it will be "well into next week" before all the snow is cleared from the roads.
Steve Szwarc, P.E.I.'s director of highway maintenance, said provincial crews prioritize the roads with the heaviest traffic.
"We're hoping by the end of the week that we'll have the roads widened back and be prepared for what comes next," he said.

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