REGINA - Regina residential streets are covered in snow, and work has begun this week to clear it all away.
The City of Regina has started a Residential Road Snow Plow starting Tuesday, Jan. 3. This follows the systematic plow done of major roads and intersections that was already completed.
The plan is for the residential streets to be plowed between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. each day until done. It is expected to take 12 days to do all the streets, until Jan. 16, depending on the weather.
In speaking to reporters Tuesday, Regina Manager of Roadways Tyler Bien is asking people to “watch for neighbourhood signage as well as visit Regina.ca/winter for notifications. You can get alerts to move your car by downloading the Sweep&Plow app.”
He noted there are more than 500 kilometres of residential roads. Bien said residents can help crews be more effective and efficient by knowing when their neighbourhood will be plowed and move their vehicles off the street during the plow.
Bien said snow ridges will be left by the plow equipment. While all efforts will be made to reduce the size of ridges, he said the result is dependent on the amount of snow left in the area and the number of parked vehicles that the equipment must plow around.
The city is urging residents to use caution while travelling city roads and when near snow equipment and to stay back at least 15 metres – or 3.5 car lengths – from the equipment.
Regina received a dumping of 14 cm of snow in the past week. 2022 was a particularly heavy year for snow in Regina, with the city spending in excess of its budget to clear the streets. The city had budgeted $8.6 million for winter maintenance and Bien told reporters the forecast was for a spend of $15.2 million.
“It will take us a little while to get those final costs in place,” said Bien, who said part of the difference will be absorbed by the winter reserve and any remainder within the general fund surplus for 2022.
He said the 12 days will be enough days to clear all the snow, if the weather cooperates. “It does give us enough time, we have a lot of crews out on the street performing this work and it happens very quickly. We are on track to complete by the scheduled time. Granted, if we do get a snowfall in that period of time, the residential plow would be put on pause so we could perform any systematic plow that we need to perform and when that is complete, we would restart the plow where we left off.”
Right now the long range Environment Canada forecast is calling for no snow for the most part over the next 10 days.
