Regina roadways hit with November snow

An early November snowfall kept City of Regina workers busy clearing roadways for drivers.

Environment Canada said the Queen City received about five centimetres of snow overnight Monday and into Tuesday morning.

Norman Kyle, City of Regina director of roadways and transportation, said they had sanders and plows out overnight and into the morning to clear the high-speed and main roads in the city.

“We worked them extra hours into the morning shift to have coverage for rush hour traffic,” Kyle said.

Throughout the day Tuesday, Kyle said about eight graders and eight sanders would be on the roads along with one trackless machine clearing sidewalks.

Kyle said the timing of the snowfall was “impeccable” with city crews transferring over to their winter maintenance schedule last Sunday.

The city crews cycle between the main roads and high-speed sections during storm mode to keep them safe while the snow is falling.

Once the snow stops, the city then focuses on collector roads as well as transit and school bus routes.

Kyle said the city will have crews working 24 hours a day to ensure the roads are in good shape.

Police respond to 17 collissions

Regina police responded to 17 collisions on Tuesday, with six of them involving injuries.

The most serious of the crashes happened near the Victoria Avenue and Winnipeg Street intersection early Tuesday morning, which sent three people to hospital.

Eleven crashes only involved property damage and no injuries. One of the incidents happened around 10:50 a.m. when a truck was traveling on the Highway 1 Bypass by Wascana Parkway. The driver lost control of a truck and rolled. No injuries were reported.

Police are reminding people to slow down and drive for the current road conditions, not just the posted speed limits.

Gas station attendants prepare for winter

Another crew getting ready for winter weather is people who help pump gas at full-service stations.

Riley Hanus has been pumping gas at Sherwood Co-op at Park Street and Dewdney Avenue for 10 years.

He said most of the gas station attendants are pretty acclimatized to Saskatchewan winters but it can still catch you off-guard.

“That first day of real winter really kind of hurts,” Hanus said.

One of the ways Hanus stays warm is being sure to layer up, having four or five different ones on at a time.

Hanus said many people tend to go to the full-service pumps during the cold winter months.

— With files from Joseph Ho