REGINA - Snow clearing efforts are under way as Regina digs its way out of its latest big snow dump.
Chris Warren, Director of Roadways and Transportation for the City of Regina, reports the city received approximately 15 centimeters of snow over the past two days.
Warren said city crews were “out in full force during this time tackling the snow.”
“We're currently clearing priority roads and expect to complete that work by Saturday at 7 a.m. We are also working on sidewalks that are maintained by city crews and plowing all alleys citywide. Crews are also filling sandboxes and managing our snow storage site activities.”
Warren also said that because they received 15 centimetres of snow, “we are expecting to start a residential plow early next week.”
The schedule for that plow will be posted to Regina.ca. Residents are being encouraged to download the Sweep and Plow app to receive alerts to move their vehicles for when the snow plows will be in their neighbourhood. The City also is asking residents to slow down and drive safe, and Warren is urging people to stay back about three to four car lengths from snow plowing and sanding equipment. More information on the City's winter maintenance activities and priority road plowing, please visit Regina.ca slash winter.
Warren reports that during the storm itself, they didn't have too many issues with winds causing snow drifts. “We did have a little bit of drifting in the northwest and out in the east end, but we were able to keep up with that and keep all those roads passable.”
However, Warren said that with the wind advisory this morning, “we did see those winds pick up, so we had to go back and just double check on some of those areas to make sure that they're remaining open and passable. So the winds do definitely cause a little bit of havoc during those snowfalls and those storms.”
As for whether their residential snow removal has been set back, Warren replied that the last major snow event was early January, so “we had a good amount of time in between those two storms to do a lot of snow removal and get those roads back to good winter driving conditions.”
Compared with the last couple of seasons, Warren admits that this winter’s conditions “are quite a bit more severe than we had last year.”
“However when we look back to the two previous years before that, we're starting to get into that realm. I think this winter season we've already experienced our fifth snow event, our fifth major weather event.”
Warren noted they have been seeing weather events with high winds that have impacted their operations and impacted the community. They are also seeing higher than average snowfall accumulations this winter when compared to their five-year average.
“So it's been a busy winter and our crews are prepared to address those conditions and we'll keep moving through and doing our best to maintain those conditions as outlined in the winter maintenance policy.”
As for where they stand with their winter maintenance budget, Warren said they will be sharing those during their year end financial reports to council.
He notes that their 2024 winter maintenance budget was $10.7 million. “As you may or may not know, we're in the process of awaiting our 2025 budget allocation, which will be later on in March,” Warren said.
“The winter maintenance program is unique in that it covers two different budget years. As of January 1st, 2025, we're in a brand new budget cycle. We're still considering our final expenses for the 2024 calendar year and we'll be reporting the year-end financials to City Council very shortly.”
But Warren did admit that the months of November and December were very busy. “We had three big major weather events. We triggered snow removal and snow storage site activities, which are big expensive activities that we do in the winter maintenance program. It's been a very busy couple of months and we'll be sharing those numbers fairly quickly here.”
