Highway Hotline launches new Track My Plow feature

A new tool is out that’s designed to keep Saskatchewan roads safer during winter.

On Wednesday at the Highway Hotline’s “nerve centre” in Regina, the Ministry of Highways revealed the Track My Plow feature – a pilot project that allows people to see the path of the ministry’s snowplows as they do snow and ice control on Saskatchewan highways.

Users can see the last two hours of a vehicle’s road maintenance progress by hovering over a plow’s trail.

(Government of Saskatchewan/Submitted)

Highways Minister Lori Carr told reporters that the timeliness of the information provided by Track My Plow is its biggest advantage.

“I think as Ministry of Highways, we’re always looking at ways to make our roadways safer for the travelling public and I think this truly is just one of those innovative ideas that will make it safer for the travelling public to be out there,” Carr said.

Although it’s a pilot project, Carr said she envisions it existing for years to come.

Carr said the development of the project cost $65,000.

Carr said the province has about 300 plows, and 90 per cent of them are equipped with the tracking technology. The ones that aren’t are older plows that haven’t been upgraded yet, but Carr says they’ll be replaced with newer ones containing the technology.

“We’ve been working with our vendor probably over about the past year to try and develop something that would work for the Province of Saskatchewan,” Carr said.

“So now we’ve got it live and running and it is a pilot project so as we work our way through it, of course we’re looking for feedback if you have any of that for us as you’re using the application and that’s how we’ll develop it moving forward.”

The Highway Hotline has more than 50 cameras connected to its online map.

“We’ve got great information on that website. We’ve got a description of what the actual road looks like,” Carr said.

“Throughout the province, we’ve got cameras so you can go online and you can find a camera that may be in the area. You can visually see it. And now with this Track My Plow, you have another tool at your fingertips to know if a snowplow has actually been out, especially if you’re aware that there has been a winter event.”