City of Regina crews, truck drivers react to wintery conditions

Even though Regina has been enjoying spring-like weather, maintenance crews were ready for the winter-like conditions that hit the city Monday and Tuesday.

Tyler Bien, the manager of roadway seasonal operations for the City of Regina, says employees were more than prepared for this latest Arctic blast.

“We’re actually currently still in the winter mode so we were ready,” Bien said Tuesday. “Once the snow started falling, we switched to 24-hour coverage.

(Lisa Schick/980 CJME)

“Once the roads are returned to a normal seasonal driving condition, then we will go back to a routine maintenance type of operation.”

Bien said there have been roughly 40 pieces of equipment out and about over the last two days either plowing or de-icing roads and pathways in the area.

Between five and 10 centimetres of snow have fallen in Regina since Sunday and has been blown around by wind gusts in the 40- to 50-kilometre-per-hour range.

That has made for slippery conditions on local roads, forcing crews to work around the clock.

“We’re still in a storm response mode because the snow hasn’t stopped,” Bien said. “Once the snow stops, we may switch into a systematic mode where we go through the city plowing our high-volume roads first, if needed, or addressing any location that needs more attention to make sure our roads are safely passable.”

Truck drivers face delays

Some people would say a change in scenery is a good thing.

But if you’re going from 20 C weather to below-freezing conditions, you might have second thoughts.

Truck driver Bruce Carlson was driving from California when he was delayed for an entire day in the Queen City.

“I’ll be moving out of here Wednesday,” Carlson said. “It’s a whole day delay. It’s very frustrating.

“This weather sure is kind of kooky. There has been some horrible, horrible road conditions.”

Carlson says he plans on continuing his route Wednesday.

“These delays can have great impacts on people’s lives,” he said. “It just makes you shake your head.”

The state of Saskatchewan’s highways can be found here.