REGINA - Saskatchewan got its first snow dump of the season overnight and into Tuesday morning, and Regina road crews have swung into action.
Tyler Bien, Manager Sweeping & Alleys, said the city of Regina received five centimetres of snow from the snowstorm last night.
“With the milder temperatures, however, the snow started melting immediately when it hit the ground, and continued to somewhat melt throughout the night,” said Bien.
Crews in Regina have been at work since about 3 a.m. in the morning. The main challenge for the city has been addressing ice buildup, something that is typical of a snowstorm that hits around this time of year. In such a situation the snow will hit the warm pavement and turn into ice, and then is covered by more snow.
Bien said the city crews reacted during the early hours, with sander trucks on the road applying ice control, and plowing snow wherever it was building up on the higher volume roads.
“With the milder temperatures, our focus is on the ice control aspect of keeping the road safe,” Bien said.
Their ice control will focus on the main streets such as Albert Street, Victoria Ave. and other main roads. The focus is on Category 1,2 and 3 streets which encompass over half the city. There are also graders out to clear the snow but the main focus is ice control.
In this situation, where the snow is quickly melting, no snow routes were declared and the city is also not calling for a systematic plow. Instead, the city is concentrating on the ice control and getting sand and salt onto the roads.
Bien noted some main routes like Albert Street have seen the snow disappear, due to the ice control and the amount of traffic on those routes.
There have been some reports of accidents, though most major reports are for highways outside the city.
Bien urges people to “take your time, plan your routes, plan how are you going to get to and from work, leave extra time, take it slow. If you’re unsure of travelling on icy roads or wanting to drive on that, maybe try public transport, try the buses. We really want people to slow down, plan your routes and leave extra time.”
As for the street sweep program to remove leaves off the city streets, that is on pause for now and they will re-evaluate what they will do tomorrow.
The city usually plans for the arrival of winter weather weeks in advance and starts transitioning their construction equipment to be ready for winter. Staff was also available to address the routes, and Bien said everyone was available.
“This is about the right time for the snow to arrive,” said Bien. “Sometimes it happens a little bit earlier, sometimes it happens a little later…mid-to-end October, we always try to be prepared and be available for anything we need to do to respond to any weather needs.”
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