Hundreds of snowplows help clear Sask. highways after winter storms

Saskatchewan and snow often go hand in hand.

When winter hits, chances are you’ve got your shovel ready and your alarm set a little bit earlier than usual. But some in Saskatchewan have made it their full-time jobs to do battle with winter, albeit with much better equipment than standard shovels.

When snowstorms arrive, crews around the province wake up early, jump in their plows and get to work, hopefully making your morning commute a little easier and safer.

During the most recent storm, many crews were at work clearing away the seemingly endless drifts of snow.

Tom Lees is the assistant deputy minister for operations and maintenance at Saskatchewan’s Ministry of Highways. He spoke with Evan Bray on Tuesday about the logistics surrounding snow removal in Saskatchewan.

“We’ve got 300 plows across the province, and they’re stationed at about 75 locations, so at any given time you will see plows out on the road,” said Lees.

When the weather takes a turn, road conditions can become dangerous very quickly for drivers and the crews working on the roads. Lees said there are a few measures in place to help ensure workers stay safe.

“Once the visibility starts to go down, we use a measurement of about 200 metres. If we can’t see beyond that, our plows won’t be on the road until visibility improves,” Lees explained.

“Lots of times when you see a road closure on the system, our plows aren’t out there because it’s not safe for the motorists to be out there and it’s also not safe for our plow operators to be out there, so we need the visibility to improve to really get out there and start responding to the road conditions.”

Lees said there are many dangers that operators can come across, including drivers who don’t see them.

“When you look at a snowplow or stand beside it, it’s quite large, and it’s got a bunch of flashing lights on it – blue and amber lights – so that it stands out to the public. But when it’s out there plowing snow and it gets behind what we’ll call a snow cloud, they almost become invisible,” he explained.

“The unfortunate part is that we do have plows that were hit, and actually in this last storm we had five plows that were hit while they were out performing their maintenance out there.”

Crews are still working to improve conditions on highways and within communities. This past weekend’s winter storm brought up to 35 centimetres of snow to the Saskatoon area, as well as up to 10 centimetres in the regions around Regina.

Saskatchewan’s Highway Hotline recently added a new feature allowing users to track snowplows as they work to clear highways around the province.

The Saskatchewan RCMP said officers responded to 87 calls for service on the province’s highways between noon Saturday and Monday evening.