Saskatoon residential snow removal to begin Wednesday

Snow-clearing efforts from the Nov. 7-9 snow/ice storm and blizzard along with subsequent snowfalls in Saskatoon are hitting the next stage, and it’s going to cost millions of dollars to clean up.

The early estimates for grading, removing, sanding and de-icing have so far exceeded the current budget by $10 million. Estimates to remove all of the snow now piled up on residential streets could cost another $6 million to $7 million, which will be be spread between 2020 and 2021 budgets — depending on contractor progress and future snow events.

At Monday’s city council meeting, transportation and construction GM Terry Schmidt updated councillors on the snow-removal strategy that will look somewhat like the spring and fall street sweeping initiatives, only on a much greater scale.

Schmidt says so far, snow removal near schools, business improvement districts and several other areas has been completed. However, other priority streets and residential neighbourhoods could take up to two months to complete.

More contractors will need to be hired to complete the massive job. Those contracts are to be awarded on Dec. 7.

“The focus of snow removal on residential streets will be loading out snowpiles and windrows to establish typical winter drivability of the street and improve on street parking availability in front of homes and properties,” explained Schmidt.

Piles that encroach on sidewalks will also be removed, along with bulbs at the ends of culs-de-sac. Most snow removal will take place during the day with the exception of priority streets.

Depending on how many priority streets there are in a neighbourhood, there could be multiple crews working in sequence, in different areas.

“The plan is to post a sequencing and neighbourhood schedule for the work planned this week on the city’s website,” said Schmidt.

Additional schedules will also be posted on the city’s website so residents know when they can expect crews in their area. Residents will be notified 24 hours beforehand, with sandwich boards along their streets.

“To allow crews to clean up residential streets as best as possible, advance warning and towing without ticketing will be employed,” said Schmidt.

Alleys will not be part of the clearing efforts, unless specifically requested by residents or if there are mobility issues.

Schmidt said the city usually gets around 93 centimetres of snow in a typical season. According to Environment Canada, up until Nov. 20, the city has already had 53 cm of snow, or more than half of the average annual total.

The city has never undertaken a snow-removal project of this magnitude involving residential streets.

Motion to clear secondary park paths

A motion put forward by new councillor David Kirton asked for administration to explore the cost and ramifications of a one-time clearing of secondary park pathways in the city, as a way to help people get outside this winter.

“Many of our parks have primary paths or walkways, and those have been cleared,” said Kirton. “In my ward, there are numerous parks that have so-called secondary paths and the plan in a normal winter is not to clear those paths …

“We want people to be out as much as possible this winter … I’ve talked to a number of residents in my ward who would very much appreciate those secondary paths being cleared off this year.”

The motion was passed unanimously, with administration to report back at the next council meeting in December.