City of Saskatoon back to normal for snow grading this year

Snow crews have a big responsibility to keep the streets and sidewalks clear throughout the winter.

Some years this can be pretty standard practice, while in other years, major snowfall can cause some serious challenges to overcome.

Everyone still remembers last November’s snowfall in Saskatoon that had several people trapped in their homes with no way to go anywhere.

That snowfall was the first time in decades that Saskatoon snow crews went into residential areas to remove large amounts of snow.

Tracy Danielson, the city’s roadways manager, says the city plans on getting back to normal this year and will focus just on priority streets.

As Saskatoon prepares for a potential snowstorm this week, Danielson says crews already have a specific plan in place.

“We want to remind residents that this winter — and even this snowstorm coming here — is likely to be a typical snowstorm response,” Danielson said on The Brent Loucks Show.

“We don’t grade or remove snow from all residential streets. Instead, only priority streets are graded within 72 hours.”

Danielson says there’s a clear list as to what qualifies as a priority street and what doesn’t.

“Priority streets include Saskatoon’s busiest streets, such as freeways, arterials, and collectors,” Danielson said. “They are the streets used by buses, they connect neighbourhoods, and are major access roads to emergency facilities such as hospitals, fire and ambulance halls.”

A snow event is declared in the city when more than five centimetres of snow fall.

There is a plan in place for any major snowstorms that hit Saskatoon, just like what happened last year. Danielson says residential streets would then get attention.

“We have an emergency response plan in the event that we do have an extreme snowfall like what we experienced last November,” Danielson said. “That response plan does include snow grading and removal of (snow from) all residential streets.”

As for homes and businesses, they will be responsible for removing their own snow on sidewalks within a 48-hour time frame of when the snowfall is declared finished.