Mainroad Mid-Island is stocked and ready for what could be a busy winter. (Mainroad Mid-Island Contracting)

By Alex Rawnsley

shift into winter

Mainroad Mid-Island ready for whatever winter brings in Nanaimo & Oceanside

Nov 21, 2023 | 1:01 PM

NANAIMO — Crews are on standby and the trucks are ready to roll for when the flurries fly.

Mainroad Mid-Island is contracted by the B.C. government to tend to roughly 3,600 lane kilometres of highway and industrial roads across the central Island, with the coverage area spanning from just south of Chemainus to north of Qualicum Beach.

Daniel Hutchins, Mainroad general manager, said they’ve got more crew and trucks ready for this season, noting winter preparations began in August.

“That’s when we start bringing our trucks in, getting them calibrated. We of course replace equipment over the summer, our loading equipment, our trucks, our graders, all that stuff,” Hutchins told NanaimoNewsNOW.

Winter forecasts are generally calling for a milder and drier season, however a bulk of the precipitation is due towards the back half of winter.

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Regardless, a healthy stockpile of sand, salt and calcium is at the ready, with Hutchins saying they keep a roughly two-year supply to start a season.

It means if a winter is particularly harsh, such as ones the last couple of years, there’s always some material left over.

Priorities for Mainroad include area highways, with Hwy. 1, 4, 4A, 19 and 19A all on their radar whenever a storm moves in.

“Those are our main focuses during a storm in preparation for anti-icing in advance of a storm. Once a storm is cleaned up then we break off from that and get into our side roads and clean those up.”

Strategy plays a big role as well with adequate pre-preparation of area roads just as important as getting plows running during a storm.

“We typically will use anti-icing in advance of a storm and we’ll use that up to the -9 territory. Once a storm has happened, when cleanup time has come then we’ll switch over to a de-icing chemical like salt to melt the compact or any residual snow off the road.”

Travellers are advised to check DriveBC conditions prior to heading out in inclement weather, while Mainroad staff’s a 24/7 emergency hot line (1-877-215-6006) to report highway issues.

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