If Mother Nature blasts in another winter like last year, the Township snow removal department will be more prepared, promises Township roads and drainage staff.

The Farmer’s Almanac predicts we are in for another doozy of a winter, with below normal temperatures and above normal snowfall.

Environment Canada predicts an El Nino year for the “Wet Coast.”

Last winter, the Township was blasted with more criticism about its poor levels of snow removal than any other issue it has faced in years, after residents were literally snowed in for days, roads were impassable and even police and fire trucks were unable to get to emergencies in certain areas of Langley.

Now the Township has tripled its snow plowing fleet from three to nine trucks, said Terry Veer, manager of roads and drainage, who spoke to council on Monday.

Equipment has been upgraded, two new brine tanks were added as well as two pickup trucks equipped with a single plow able to get into dead end roads and cul de sacs to do a single pass through.

But third-priority or side roads won’t be plowed until snow levels reach 10 inches high, he said.

New plows are designed to push snow forward instead of sideways, which should reduce the amount of driveways and cars that were covered in several feet of snow when the machine came through.

Last year, the Township only had three big plows, so there was limited service, Veer said.

First priority roads (arterial, major roads, bus routes and school zones, will be dealt with on a 24/7 basis, he said.

On second priority roads (connecting residential streets), which is where most of the complaints came from, they added 40 kilometres of road to be cleared for a total of 200 km of roadways.

This will be staffed Monday through Friday but not on the weekends. However, this year the team can be called for overtime up to 12 hours a day, which wasn’t allowed before.

So not all roads in front of schools will be plowed, questioned Mayor Rick Green.

“We had a massive snowfall on Sunday at 6 p.m. and then school the next day was open, which was incredibly dangerous. At Dorothy Peacock there were kids having to walk down the centre of the street to get to school and parents trying to drive through impassable roads,” Green said.

Veer admitted that lack of clearing of roads around schools was a communication failure between the school district and the Township.

“A communication plan is being developed,” he said. It was also asked that updates be provided on the Township website.

When asked if the Township would switch to a more environmentally-friendly de-icer, Veer replied that it would be very expensive.

“We use table salt,” he said.

“It is the cheapest and works with the kind of conditions we have.”