City says snowstorm could be costly, upwards of $10 million range in Sunday removal update

Saskatoon’s cleanup and removal efforts following this past weekend snowstorm will likely be a costly one.

Speaking during Sunday morning’s press conference, Saskatoon city manager Jeff Jorgenson said he couldn’t yet say how much it will cost.

But, past city reports do display a ballpark number.

“Council has in the past, asked us for estimates on what it would cost to remove snow from all residential streets. And some of those reports… numbers in the order of $10 million, $15 million are definitely, order of magnitude, quoted in those reports. But it is so dependant on how many (truckloads of) snow are removed from the streets,” he explained.

“To think that it’s more than $10 (million), in the $15 million range… we’re probably looking at something in that range.”

The city says it is ahead of schedule on cleanup, as we are now one week removed from the first bit of major snowfall during the storm.

With contractors stepping up, the city says around 300 are now helping the cleanup and removal efforts.

It is anticipated that by the end of this evening, snow removal crews will have passed through 48 residential streets. That works out to around 75 per cent of the city.

Residents are being asked to not push their snow onto the street, this can clog up streets with even more snow and create accessibility issues.

To take a look at the schedule, when your neighbourhood expects to get cleaned and more on the city’s snow removal and cleanup, click here.