ASSINIBOIA — Know before you go. Helping drivers make more informed decisions on winter weather travel, the Ministry of Highways enacted changes on their Highway Hotline to provide clearer and more concise road information.
“The Highway Hotline is used millions of times throughout the year to help travellers plan ahead,” Minister, Lori Carr stated in an earlier press release.
“These changes will help drivers make an informed decision while having better consistency with our neighbouring provinces and national standards.”
According to the news release the new primary conditions include:
Bare – Road appears black, means all wheels of a passenger vehicle are on a bare surface.
Partly Covered – Road appears yellow, means two wheels of a passenger vehicle are on a snow or ice-covered surface.
Covered – Road appears pink, means all wheels of the vehicle are on snow or ice.
Travel Not Recommended – Road appears blue, means that visibility is less than 250 metres and could become impassable.
Closed – Road appears red, means the highway is impassable.
They highlighted the change to a dotted line to indicate poor visibility.
In February of this year, the Highway Hotline also introduced a new feature, revealing ‘Track My Plow’. It was a pilot project intending to allow people to see the path of the ministry’s snowplows as they complete snow and ice control on Saskatchewan’s highways.
Users can see the last two hours of a vehicle’s road maintenance progress by hovering over a plow’s trail. Although it was introduced as a pilot project, it was noticed that the ministry can envision this tool existing for years to come.
Saskatchewan has 300 plows. The Highway Hotline has more than 50 cameras connected to its online map. This enables travellers to go online and find the camera that may be in the area you are or will be travelling, to and visually see it.
Motorists are encouraged to check with the Highway Hotline and utilize all tools available there for determining and/or finalizing their travel plans.
