REGINA — Heavy winds and snowfall in Regina on Thursday have crews clearing specific roads throughout the city.
Chris Warren, director of roadways and transportation with the City of Regina, spoke about where their efforts are focused.
“City crews are focused on plowing high-speed roads, providing ice control at major intersections and clearing roads in neighbourhoods around outer areas of the city.”
Warren said the city likely received two centimetres of snow, meaning there wasn’t enough to warrant plowing the high-priority streets.
However, areas in the northwest, including parks and open spaces, saw the greatest impact from the system, warranting ice/snow removal.
The city’s current ice control maintenance is being impacted by strong 80km/hr winds, noted Warren.
“The high winds that we're experiencing often blow the sand to the curbs or into the ditches. So that requires us to continuously cycle and apply that material.”
As for perimeter neighbourhoods, Warren mentioned the temperature fluctuation from 0 C on Thursday afternoon to -15 C on Friday has created challenges.
“That warm melting and thawing and then freezing again does create challenges for roads like that. So crews are constantly prioritizing the work that's required.”
The city's winter maintenance workers operate seven days a week, 20 hours a day. Warren said the hours can increase to 24 hours when dealing with these storms.
Maintenance on the roads will continue for the next couple of days, said Warren.
