Grateful to road crews

Photo: Contributed

I read about a North Okanagan mayor complaining about the quality of road maintenance in the winter in their community — specifically the criticism was aimed at Highway 6. 

It is odd, in a part of the world where we regularly see unpredictable amounts of snowfall and with changing priorities all the time, that we see fit to complain publicly. 

I personally travel Highway 6 routinely when I commute from the Kootenays to the Okanagan. Frankly, there is more snow on the shoulders at the moment than I have seen in a good many years. But what I did notice is that the road was passable – in fact, very well maintained. And crews were on site removing mountains of snow to widen the shoulders. 

When we have a breakdown or an accident in a vicinity close to a municipality, it is relatively quick to get help. When we have a problem on a mountain pass, I, for one, am grateful that there are road crews out working and that they do the best job possible in the challenging conditions. 

Last winter, my wife was involved in an accident when an oncoming car lost traction driving on a Kootenay mountain pass in a blizzard with summer tires. The resulting head-on collision totalled her car, and if I had not been close by and smart enough to turn around to see what had happened, both her and the other driver and passenger would have been stuck on a mountain pass in a blizzard with two broken vehicles for over 4.5 hours. Not nice.

A personal thank you from me to all the road crews working in the rural and urban areas, attempting to clean up what weather services on the Internet keep referring to as occasional flurries.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.