162 cm
Avg annual snowfall
56
Snow days a year
24 hr
Bylaw clearing window
$1,000
Bylaw fine for lot snow on the road
Commercial snow and ice management in the 108 Street & Highway 40 Corridor
Within the city, 108 Street is Highway 40 — a City Priority 1 route running north–south past medical, retail and service property, crossing 84 Avenue and 68 Avenue, which are Priority 1 routes in their own right.
This is the corridor where being closed is not an option. Medical and clinic properties along 108 Street need entrances, drop-off zones and accessible parking open continuously, not by mid-morning. Retail around the 108 Street and 84 Avenue intersection sits on 20-plus-acre sites that take hours to turn over. And the recreation traffic around the Eastlink Centre arrives in peaks rather than a steady stream.
Two Priority 1 routes crossing also means two windrow sources. Every property with an approach on 108 Street or 84 Avenue gets a plow-line laid across it on the City's schedule, and clearing it is the property's problem.
Property types we service in the 108 Street & Highway 40 Corridor
Roads and access
- 108 Street / Highway 40 — a City Priority 1 route
- 84 Avenue — a City Priority 1 route
- 68 Avenue — a City Priority 1 route
- 100 Avenue
- Knowledge Way and the Stone Ridge approaches
What a Priority 1 medical-and-retail corridor demands
- Accessible parking stalls, access aisles and ramp landings are the first thing to ice and the last thing most operators clear. On a medical site they are the first thing we clear.
- Drop-off zones and emergency-access approaches have to stay open continuously rather than being restored once per event.
- Two crossing Priority 1 routes means two windrow sources across your approaches, on the City's schedule.
- Highway-speed traffic on 108 Street makes approach visibility a real safety issue — piles cannot sit where they blind a driver pulling out.
- Shift-change traffic at 24-hour facilities means there is no empty-lot window. Work is sectioned around live parking.
- Large anchored retail sites on this corridor take hours to turn over, so in-storm service at a defined trigger depth beats one pass after the event.
The Grande Prairie bylaw that costs commercial owners money
Under City of Grande Prairie Traffic Bylaw C-1166 s.37.1A, placing snow or ice removed from a commercial or industrial property onto a highway or other public property carries a $1,000 fine — ten times the $100 penalty that applies to a residential property under s.37.1. Section 37.3 then requires the snow to be removed within 24 hours, and s.37.4–37.5 let the City remove it and bill the full cost back to whoever put it there.
Separately, s.38.1 requires the occupant or owner of a property adjacent to a sidewalk to clear snow and ice from that sidewalk within 24 hours following the most recent deposit of snow or ice. Read that wording carefully: the clock runs from the most recent deposit, not from the end of the storm. In a multi-day event it restarts. If the walk is not cleared, s.38.4 lets the City clear it and add the cost to the property's tax roll.
A cheap operator who blades your lot into the street is not saving you money. They are exposing you to a $1,000 ticket, a cleanup order, and a City invoice.
One distinction worth making, because it trips people up: the City now clears the windrows it leaves across residential driveway entrances during residential plowing, and says so on its own snow clearing page. That commitment is about driveways on residential routes. It does not cover commercial approaches on Priority 1 and Priority 2 arterials, which are cleared to a different standard and on a different schedule. If your entrance is on an arterial, the plow line across it is still yours to move.
Read the full breakdown of the 24-hour rule
City of Grande Prairie Traffic Bylaw C-1166, office consolidation as amended through C-1166J, effective 21 August 2023, ss. 37 and 38 and Schedule 1.
Where the snow goes in the 108 Street & Highway 40 Corridor
On corridor sites, piles go where they do not obstruct sightlines at a Priority 1 approach, do not block an accessible route, and do not sit over a storm drain that will back up in the first thaw.
Snow pushed from a commercial property onto 108 Street, 84 Avenue or 68 Avenue is a $1,000 offence under C-1166 s.37.1A, with a 24-hour removal order and a City invoice behind it.
Medical and high-turnover retail sites tend to need hauling earlier than other property types, because piles that eat accessible stalls or drop-off room are not an acceptable trade-off.
How a PWW commercial snow contract works
What every commercial snow contract with us includes, the 108 Street & Highway 40 Corridor included.
Written trigger depth
Service starts at an accumulation depth agreed in the contract, not when somebody decides it looks bad enough. You know exactly what buys you a visit.
Named response window
A finish time tied to your operation — before dayshift, before open, before the morning rush — rather than a vague same-day promise.
In-storm service
On contract sites we work during the event at the trigger depth instead of waiting for it to end. Snow left to pack under traffic becomes ice you have to chip off.
Separate ice-management cycle
Sanding and de-icing run on their own schedule, not bundled into the plow pass. The City applies ice control on priority routes from October 15 to April 15; your site needs the same continuity.
Documented service log
Date, time, conditions, areas cleared and material applied, recorded every visit. A slip-and-fall claim can arrive more than a year later and the log is what answers it.
Pre-season site walk
Curb stops, bollards, irrigation heads, cart corrals, fire routes and pile locations all mapped and staked before the first snowfall, so nothing gets found by a blade in the dark.
Related services for the 108 Street & Highway 40 Corridor properties
Frequently asked questions — commercial snow removal in the 108 Street & Highway 40 Corridor
Can you keep accessible parking and ramps clear all storm?
Yes, and on medical and clinic sites they are sequenced first. Accessible stalls, access aisles, ramp landings and drop-off zones are cleared and treated before the general field, and re-treated during the event rather than once at the end.
How fast do you respond on this corridor?
Contract sites are serviced at an agreed trigger depth rather than after the event ends. We hold a 24-hour response commitment across the Peace Region and tighter defined windows on contract sites where the property cannot be closed.
The City plows 108 Street and blocks our entrance. Is that our problem?
Yes. The windrow is on your approach, and it cannot be pushed back into the road. Clearing it is written into corridor contracts as a standing item rather than an extra.
Do you provide documented service records for these sites?
Yes. Every visit is logged with date, time, conditions, areas cleared and material applied, and the log is provided on request. On medical and institutional property that record is what answers a liability claim, and it is the first thing a facility manager asks for.