February 6, 2025
Chad Mernett, Jake Klassen, Jessica Windsor and Peter Cocker
AIM and Ministry of Transportation and Transit
We were pleased to welcome Chad Mernett (Operations Manager), Jake Klassen (Road Superintendent), and Jessica Windsor (Communications) from AIM (ACCIONA Infrastructure Maintenance) and Peter Cocker (Manager, Roads) from the Ministry of Transportation and Transit. Their excellent presentation explained what they do to maintain our highways and streets in a timely manner. We all agreed that the service has vastly improved over the past few years.
AIM is responsible for two areas: Service Area 8 (Kelowna, etc.) and Service Area 13 – Vernon, Salmon Arm to Pritchard to Seymore Arm. We’re served by Tappen Yard.
Road Classifications: Different classifications have different amounts of snow before response is required. Different response times also depend on things like hills, shady area, black ice, school zones, etc.
A – High volume (like highways 1 & 97)
B – 1000 or more average daily vehicles
C – School bus routes less than 1000 vehicles
D – Regularly maintained roads
E – Other irregularly maintained roads
F – Not maintained
Materials used: brine, sand, salt; add calcium with colder temperatures. They try to use more brine to prevent ice from forming so they don’t have to use as much sand. Sand needs to be swept up in the spring. Goal is to have residential streets swept by June.
AIM regularly checks several weather forecasts and DriveBC for road conditions.
**Their biggest recommendations for winter driving: SLOW DOWN and have good WINTER TIRES. Check Drive BC before you leave!
AIM is on both Facebook and Instagram. (Check Facebook for quickest updates.)
24/7 Contact info:
Phone: 1-866-222-4204 (urgent request such as an accident or a dead deer on the road)
For non-urgent (potholes, etc.) use email or service request form:
Email: aimcommunications.ca@acciona.com
Service Request Form: http://aim-roads.ca/service-request (screen shot of contact numbers)
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AIMRoads/
Instagram: aimroads.ca – https://www.instagram.com/aimroads.ca/
Other resources and websites to consider:
www.shiftintowinter.ca – Popular winter driving tools & resources
www.driveBC.ca – Current road conditions & events
www.preparedbc.ca – Offers downloadable guides and fill-in-the-blank plans to help you prepare for emergencies
www.alertable.ca – Alerts for critical events like fires or floods
www.windy.com – Weather forecasting model
www.weather.gc.ca – Environment Canada weather model
Note that fire danger limits what work can be done (anything that might create a spark).
As Jessica told us, their AIM is to please! 😁