With winter weather greeting Red Deerians early this year, the city’s snow clearing operations are also starting sooner than usual.
The late-September snowfall had crews providing traction control and street plowing earlier than normal, said city public works manager Greg Sikora. Traction control measures include salting and sanding to prevent ice from forming on roads.
Red Deerians will see a change in citywide plowing signs this year. Sikora said the modifications will better inform citizens when the crews will be coming out to plow.
Previously, the signs provided a start day, but not an end day. The signs will now say when the plowing will start and end.
These changes relate to feedback the department has received from Red Deerians.
“Because Grey Route plowing (in residential areas) does not occur on Saturdays and Sundays, and if the program is two days long and we start Friday, we were to say Friday to completion – that’s actually Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday.
“So from what we heard, the residents weren’t sure when we were coming through, because we weren’t plowing on weekends,” Sikora explained.
“So our sign will (now) say we’re plowing Friday and Monday.”
He encouraged residents to sign up for the Notify Red Deer program to know where crews are plowing and find out when they need to move their vehicles off the street to avoid a ticket.
About 2,900 Red Deerians were fined for failing to remove their parked vehicles from the streets last winter.
Notify Red Deer is a mass communication system that allows the city to alert residents via text, e-mail or a phone call, depending on residents’ preference.
Sikora also advises residents to know which route they live on. Plowing on Green Routes, such as transit routes and residential streets adjacent to schools, is done within 15 days of 10 centimetres of snow pack, which is 30 to 40 centimetres of accumulated snowfall.
The same goes for Grey Routes, or residential streets. These routes are plowed to a five-centimetre snow pack and windrows on both sides of the street.
The Purple Routes, such as hills, bridges, overpasses and hospital accesses, are plowed within eight hours of five centimetres of accumulation. Red Routes, including Gaetz Avenue, Taylor Drive, 30th Avenue and 32nd Street, are plowed within 72 hours of eight centimetres of accumulation.
An Advocate poll in March indicated most readers were displeased with the city’s snow plowing.
The poll, “Did you get your money’s worth in snow plowing this winter in Red Deer,” received 179 votes. A hundred and thirty-seven of those (76 per cent) selected “no, not even close,” while 28 people (15 per cent) selected “yes, absolutely.” Another 14 voters (about seven per cent) were “unsure.”
To learn more about the city’s snow clearing program, visit reddeer.ca/snowzone.