South Edmonton resident unhappy with windrow blocking access to property

Following a couple of big snow dumps, Edmontonians are raising concerns about how the city is clearing snow and dealing with windrows.

Tom Duggleby is upset with how the city is clearing the roads of snow.

The senior who lives in south Edmonton’s Duggan neighbourhood stepped outside his front door Monday morning to see a pile of snow from a grader roughly three feet high and five feet wide.

The 72-year-old said some residents have been trying to move the snow out of the way themselves.

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“People have been out digging it by hand,” Duggleby told CTV News Edmonton. “I saw somebody that was out with a snowblower and they were having difficulty moving it. And yet they still need a place to park on the street.”

His neighbour across the street has an accessible parking stall, meaning windrows can’t be left there.

All that snow has been pushed to Duggleby’s side of the road.

“There is no physical way for me to do it,” he said of trying to clear the pile.

Arterial and collector roads, business improvement areas and bus routes are being cleared now by city crews, with a parking ban in effect for those roads.

Duggleby thinks it would be safer to leave some snow on the road and allow cars to park against the curb.

The city says because there’s so much snow to remove, troublesome windrows sometimes come as a result.

Val Dacyk, the city’s general supervisor of the snow and ice control program, said in a statement to CTV News Edmonton that residents are encouraged to call 311 for problem windrows.

“This is the fastest and most effective way to have their request triaged and placed in our service queue,” Dacyk said.

Duggleby believes he’s now going to have to pay out of his own pocket to have the pile removed.

“This is not a solution,” he said. “It is an absolute disaster.”