It's a hairy day on the roads in Vancouver.

I know this firsthand because around 8 a.m., I drove from the West Side to the downtown to drop someone off at work (and to provide this report).

First off, the side streets and the alleys are a mess.

But what surprised me is that when I crossed the Burrard Bridge, it was a little slippery and still very snowy. I made it through okay because was I driving a front-wheel-drive economy car with snow tires—and I drove more slowly than at any time over the past year.

Fortunately, there had already been enough traffic on Burrard to make things passable down to West Hastings Street. And there were very few vehicles on the road.

On Bute Street, I noticed an Evo driver, behind the wheel of a Toyota Prius, stuck on the hill between West Hastings and West Pender.

That prompted me to return along the reasonably passable West Hastings to Howe Street.

This is in the heart of Vancouver's downtown business community but it was practically deserted at a time when it's normally buzzing with pedestrians.

Going south on Howe Street wasn't great, but it also wasn't a horror show. There seemed to be more pedestrians than cars.

I felt safer taking the onramp onto the plowed Granville Bridge (two lanes) than I did crossing over the Burrard Bridge earlier in the morning.

At the south end of the bridge, I decided to take the Fir Street offramp to avoid the southbound hill up Granville Street. Many buses have failed to traverse that section during previous snowfalls.

By now, it was around 8:35 a.m. and the ramp had not been plowed. Fortunately, the little car survived just fine, only to reach some plowed pavement beside the Earls Restaurant.

I made it back safely and decided that this was an ideal day to work at home.