Regina crews nearing completion of residential plowing

After almost two weeks of plowing residential streets in Regina, crews have finally reached the finish line.

As of Monday night, the City of Regina says crews will have plowed all of its residential roads. That works out to be more than 500 kilometres of roadway.

Tyler Bien, the manager of seasonal roadway operations for the City of Regina, calls the 13-day snow-clearing process a success.

“It’s gone very well,” Bien said. “A lot of the areas that we did plow were in great need of it. The roads were covered in ice and snow and there were a lot of ruts there.”

While the roads are much better to drive on, some people were not happy about how the city went about clearing the snow in their neighbourhoods.

Some throughout Regina were angry because the snow ridges left by the plows caused an inconvenience and were an extra item they had to clear.

Bien noted while he understands the frustration, leaving small snow ridges on the sides of driveways is nothing new for them.

“I’m aware it creates challenges for people in the area, but it’s important to get the driving lanes drivable,” he explained.

“Unfortunately, we do have to put the snow along the side of the road. However, when people move their cars and we can plow those roads in an efficient matter and get that snow ridge as close to that curb lane as possible, it allows the road to have has much usable space as possible.

“When those plows have to go around parked cars or anything left on the street, it creates challenges placing that snow as close to that curb as possible and sometimes the product that’s left afterwards isn’t as good as it would’ve been if there’s cars left on the street.”

Throughout the snow removal process this year, some residents have asked why the city can’t just go back and remove the ridges left by the plows.

Bien says that’s because it’s costly. The city noted in a Facebook post last week that it would cost between $8 million and $10 million more to remove the snow ridges left in neighbourhoods.

Bien noted crews do remove snow ridges if they’re blocking an alley, driveway or sidewalk, impeding sightlines or affecting accessibility. If that’s the case and one of those ridges has been missed, he encourages people to contact Service Regina so they can investigate and remove the barrier.

But he mentioned that rule doesn’t apply for homes unless the ridge is more than 12 inches tall.