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Streets & Transportation


We work to keep our existing streets and sidewalks safe for all residents, while looking for opportunities to improve and increase options for walking. For traffic and roadwork, requests, services and safety, the following information may prove useful.


Parking & Fines

Parking Concerns & Tickets

Free on-street parking for the temporary parking of vehicles, where provided, is a privilege granted to all road users. To facilitate the safe and efficient movement of emergency vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists and motorists on our public streets, the regulations enacted under Traffic, Parking and Highways Regulation Bylaw 472 restrict vehicles from parking too close to fire hydrants, intersections, crosswalks or driveways. These regulations apply District-wide even when there are no signs and vehicles parked in restricted areas or in a prohibited manner may be subject to a fine and/or towed away.

Ticket Responsibility

Parking and commercial vehicle enforcement in Sparwood applies to municipal roads, in commercial, industrial or residential areas. The registered owner of the vehicle is responsible for their vehicle at all times. A parking ticket is the responsibility of the registered owner, regardless of who was driving the vehicle when the ticket was issued.

Paying a Parking Ticket

Parking tickets can be paid at District Office, 136 Spruce Avenue, Box 520, Sparwood BC, V0B 2G0, during regular office hours of 8:30 am to 4:00pm. You may pay with cash, cheque, or debit card. Cheques are payable to the District of Sparwood. Please enclose the parking ticket with your payment, or write the parking ticket number or license plate number on the cheque before it is mailed.

Find more information on making payments by clicking the button below.

Disputing a Parking Ticket

Once you pay your parking ticket, you can no longer dispute it.

All disputes must be in writing and must be received within 14 days of the issuance of the ticket. Complete the Notice of Dispute form and submit it:

By email to: bleo@sparwood.ca

By fax: 250.425.7277

By mail: District of Sparwood, Bylaw Enforcement Officer, PO Box 520, Sparwood, BC V0B 2G0 In person: 136 Spruce Avenue

Once received, the form is reviewed by the Director of Corporate Services. This process may take up to 30 days. The ticket may be cancelled at that time due to a technical error or extraordinary circumstances. If the ticket is not cancelled, the disputant has the option of paying the ticket in full or attending Court.

Parking tickets and car impounds

Parking tickets are issued to registered owners of vehicles in violation and any ticketed vehicle may be impounded. While public safety and protection of property are the most important reasons for towing, other reasons might be:

  • To facilitate snow removal
  • Demand for the location, such as emergency vehicles

Inconvenience to others (vehicle is obstructing a driveway, private road, garage or parking lot. Vehicles towed by the District of Sparwood may be claimed at the Public Works Yard, located at 477 Pine Avenue. Contact the District at 250.425.7760 to confirm that your vehicle has been towed by the District. Prior to getting a vehicle released, you will need to visit the District Office, located at 136 Spruce Avenue, to pay all fines, and towing and impound fees.

Enforcement

Bylaw Enforcement Officers are responsible for ensuring compliance of District bylaws related to parking

Traffic, Parking and Highways Regulation Bylaw 472 regulates the use (including parking) of all District of Sparwood streets. This Bylaw, in large part, reflects the Province of British Columbia Motor Vehicle Act. Although Bylaw Enforcement Officers work primarily on a reactive, complaint-driven, basis, they do periodically patrol municipal streets and may issue tickets for parking infractions such as:

  • Parking contrary to traffic control devices;
  • Parking continuously in excess of 24 hours unless posted otherwise;
  • Parking a vehicle facing the wrong direction, against the flow of traffic;
  • Parallel parking too far away from a curb (more than 45 cm);
  • Parking any kind of trailer that is not attached to a motor vehicle;
  • Parking a vehicle with a gross weight in excess of 5,500 KG, between the hours of 8 pm and 8 am, in a residential zone; or
  • Parking within 6 metres of a lane, stop sign, crosswalk, hydrant, or an entrance or exit to a hotel, playground, fire hall or public meeting place.

Posted signs notify drivers of some parking regulations. Bylaw enforcement officers also inform motorists on how to park legally.

Parking Reminders

What to remember when parking:

  • Vehicles must not obstruct intersections or park within 6 metres of a crosswalk, for visibility;
  • Vehicles must not obstruct driveways, private roads or parking lots;
  • Vehicles must be at least 6 metres from a fire hydrant;
  • Vehicles must not park adjacent to a curb painted yellow;
  • Vehicles must be parked facing the same direction of the traffic flow;
  • Vehicles must leave at least 1 metre between itself and any other vehicle when parallel parking;
  • Vehicles must be at least 15 metres from a railway crossing; and
  • Vehicles parked on the sidewalk or overhanging the sidewalk are a risk to pedestrian safety. A pedestrian may have to enter onto the roadway to pass.

Reporting Illegal Parking

To make a complaint about parking issues in your neighbourhood, please email the Bylaw Enforcement Officer at bleo@ sparwood.ca, or call 250.425.6820, or go online at Report Problem/Request Service.

Parking related complaints must include:

  • Address of occurrence;
  • License plate number;
  • Make, model and colour of vehicle;
  • The nature of the problem; and
  • If you are reporting an abandoned vehicle, please indicate how long the vehicle has been parked in that location.


Pedestrians & Cyclists

Take a hike! Or a walk or a sashay through the woods

There’s no obligation to go fast, and taking your time is encouraged. This is where you can see the forest for the trees and where a walk in the woods might be just as fun as a walk in the clouds. New trail signs and maps are being installed throughout town to help you find your way!


Public Transportation

BC Transit provides public transportation services in Sparwood and the Elk Valley.

To learn more about the route schedule, view route maps or find out fares, please visit Elk Valley Transit Busing.

Left something behind on the bus?

If you have accidentally left something behind on the bus, please contact BC Transit, Lost and Found at 1.855.417.4636. Their mailing address is 1229 Cranbrook Street North, Cranbrook, BC V1C 3S6.

If you have comments about service in general or suggestions for improvements, please contact the Community Services Manager for the Regional District of East Kootenay, 19 – 24th Avenue South, Cranbrook, BC V1C 3H8, or by phone at 250.489.2791 or 1.888.478.7335.

Health Connections Another service provided by BC Transit is the Health Connection bus. The service transports people from the Elk Valley to Cranbrook to access health services. To view the schedule visit BC Transit Health Connections.


Road Safety

Road Watch BC was developed in partnership with Wildsight, Western Transportation Institute, Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative and the Miistakis Institute to enable citizens living in Elk Valley region of Southeastern British Columbia to report wildlife sightings along major highways

Information on wildlife sightings collected by the public will enable us to better understand where wildlife are commonly crossing, involved in collisions, or moving adjacent to the highway. Ultimately this will lead to development of informed strategies to reduce wildlife vehicle collisions while ensuring the safe passage of wildlife across highways. The generated information will be shared with Government officials in Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) and Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations & Rural Development (FLNRORD).

Road Watch BC includes the development of a smartphone app and associated on-line mapping tool to increase efficiency, accuracy and ease of data collection, and ultimately generate a dataset to be used to inform strategies to improve wildlife movement and both wildlife and human safety.

How to participate?

There are three ways for you to participate in Road Watch BC:

  • Option 1: If you are a passenger in a vehicle driving in southeast BC, download the RoadWatchBC smartphone app and record your sightings of wildlife along the highways.
  • Option 2: if you are a driver, remember where, when and what you saw while driving along the highways in southeast BC and record your observation using the on-line mapping tool.
  • Option 3: If you are a passenger that regularly takes a consistent highway route in southeast BC, consider signing up to drive a specified route (defined starting and end points agreed upon by local project coordinator). This option enables us to record volunteer effort because you record when you are on your specified route even when you don’t see any wildlife.

To learn more and request a training session please contact info@roadwatchbc.ca.

If you see wildlife on the highway and you are not sure what species it is, visit our Wildlife Identification section on the website.


Streets & Sidewalks

Road maintenance programs are delivered to provide safety for road users, to maximize the life of a roadway and to minimize the long term costs related to reconstructing a road The road maintenance programs include the following:

  • Pothole repairs
  • Crack sealing
  • Street sweeping
  • Curb and gutter repairs
  • Sidewalk repairs
  • Street lighting and sign maintenance
  • Gravel shoulder maintenance
  • Roadway structure maintenance
  • Regular road patrol and inspection

Snow Removal

It is expected that under normal winter conditions, there will be situations when the immediate demand for snow removal and ice control services will exceed the available resources.

In order to maximize the benefits of operations, snow removal and ice control personnel shall conduct operations according to the following priorities:

  1. Hospital
  2. Central Business District
  3. Business Lanes
  4. Fire Halls
  5. Main Arteries
  6. School Bus Routes
  7. Municipal Parking Lots
  8. Collector Streets
  9. Residential Streets

From October 1 to March 31 between the hours of 6:00 am to 4:00 pm please park your vehicles in your driveway so that when the snow plow does the street the operator can do a neat and thorough job.  

Snow Removal and Ice Control (Work Days, Weekends, Statutory Holidays)

From Monday through Friday there is continuous coverage from 7:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday there is one employee on call to respond to service calls.

The 7:00 a.m. crew is dispatched to check street conditions. If the snow is less than 1” deep sanding of all intersections and icy areas will begin. When the depth of snow is 1” to 2” or more, the crew may remove snow from streets in town, and if time permits the lanes will be done. Snow that needs to be hauled away from the streets in front of businesses or congested areas is hauled out during regular work days only.

Calling out a sand truck after hours is left to the discretion of the Director of Operations, Lead Hand or the on call person. The on call person can be reached, after hours at 250.425.7760. This line connects to the Public Works Shop which is routed to the on call person through an answering service.

If it should begin to snow after hours during the week or on weekends, the Director of Operations, Lead Hand and on call person have the responsibility to monitor the changing conditions so that the District can respond to any slippery or hazardous conditions. The first response units in the off hours are the combination sander/plow trucks. Any further call out of equipment is at the discretion of the Director of Operations or Lead Hand.

The District is responsible for the plowing, sanding, and removal of snow on all streets within the District boundaries, with the exception of private owned properties such as trailer courts and condos. Major highways are the responsibility of the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) and are maintained through their contractor.

Generally 2” of snow may constitute a major plow, which means that all available equipment will start early and all parts of the District are covered in order of priority.

Windrow Removal Pilot Program

Council approved the windrow removal pilot program for an additional year (2016/2017) for all residents affected by the District’s snow removal program.

General guidelines of the program include:

  • Windrow removal service will be provided only when the windrow is an accumulated height of 6 inches or greater;
  • No windrow removal service will be provided to residents who push snow from their driveways into the windrow for removal by the District; 
  • The intent of the windrow removal service is to knock down the windrow and allow for vehicle passage; it is not the intent of the program to provide full clearing and cleaning of the entire width of a driveway, from edge to edge. Approximately 1-2” of snow will be left to avoid damage to driveways; and
  • Snow that has been cleared from driveways will be deposited on the boulevards and periodically removed, as required, to make room for additional storage.

Towing

If your vehicle has been towed, contact the District Office during regular business hours at 250.425.6271 . To claim your vehicle, you must:

  • Pay outstanding fines, towing and impound fees.

Your vehicle will be towed if:

  • You have violated a parking bylaw; or
  • You have abandoned your vehicle, it is a hazard, or it is an inconvenience to other motorists.

Transportation Master Plan

Sparwood has developed a comprehensive Transportation Master Plan to identify traffic patterns for the next ten to twenty years

The District retained AECOM (formerly UMA Engineering) to develop a Transportation Master Plan for Sparwood. Due to growing local tourism and the expansion of the coal-mining industry, as well as the District’s close proximity to major urban centres such as Calgary and Lethbridge, a review of the existing transportation infrastructure was required to develop plans ensuring the area’s growth is supported by a safe and efficient transportation system.

The objectives of the Transportation Master Plan study are to:

  • Document existing road network and operations
  • Project future development based on discussions with District planning staff and available information such as Area Service Plans (ASP) and development requests
  • Develop a future transportation network and staging plan that accommodates growth over the next 20 years
  • Develop an Active Modes Plan to encourage and accommodate the use of active modes of travel

Please send any questions you may have regarding the Transportation Master Plan to sparwood@sparwood.ca.

Winter Parking Regulations

From October 1 to March 31 between the hours of 6:00 am to 4:00 pm please park your vehicles in your driveway.

Residents are reminded that:

  • Parking on the street is prohibited from October 1 to March 31 between the hours of 6:00 am to 4:00 pm;
  • It is an offence to push, place or throw or allow to be pushed, placed or thrown any snow or ice upon a highway or lane;
  • That no advance warning is required under the Traffic, Parking and Highways Regulation Bylaw and the Motor Vehicle Act and offending vehicles will be towed.
  • Please make appropriate arrangements for parking your vehicles.