City working 24-7 to clear Regina streets during snowfall

City of Regina workers have their hands full dealing with the ongoing snowfall.

The city was expected to receive 10-15 cm of snow throughout the day and gusts of wind up to 60 kilometres per hour.

Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) said in a 4 p.m. forecast that the city would see around 2 to 4 cm of snow fall overnight, with winds gusting to 70 kilometres per hour, meaning wind chill would reach minus 23.

ECCC said there was a 30 per cent chance of light snow through Wednesday.

Chris Warren, the city’s director of roadways and transportation, said crews have been responding to the storm since Monday night.

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“Our crews will continue working through while the snow is falling,” Warren said during a Tuesday conference call.

“Once the snow stops falling and conditions improve, we hit a reset button where our crews, as well as our contractor crews, will go out and replow all of those major roads that we’ve been cycling through to ensure that we’re doing a final clearing.”

Warren said that cleanup after the snow stops falling would take 48 hours, with main roads and high-speed roads being the city’s main priority, as well as roads to Regina hospitals, including Lewvan, Ring Road, Albert Street, Broad Street, Rochdale Boulevard, and Arcola Avenue.

Chris Warren, director of roadways and transportation with the City of Regina. (Screengrab)

Warren said the city is using around 50 pieces of equipment to make the roads and sidewalks safer, including graders, ice control trucks, sidewalk-clearing machines, front-end loaders and smaller skids as well as 10 or 12 sanders.

“We’ve got several areas around the perimeter of the community that sometimes, due to the nature of the winds and the direction of the winds, are susceptible to drifting and blowing snow,” he said.

“We are trying to make sure that those roads remain open and passable as well.”

Warren said residents needed to slow down while driving and stay back at least 3 and a half car lengths from any snow plows or sanders.

“Slow down and plan to take some extra time to get to your destination. If you’ve got winter tires, now would be the time to get those winter tires put onto your vehicle,” he said, adding that people should be extra cautious navigating through intersections.

Read More:

• ‘Get worse before it gets better’: Eastern Sask. hit with snowstorm
• Snowy storms in Sask. could ground your travel plans