Saskatoon snow removal expected to be completed by March 1

It’s been almost two months since the huge late-December snowfall, and Saskatoon’s streets are expected to be fully cleared by the end of the month.

Between Christmas and the end of December, the city estimated that 34 centimetres of snow fell in Saskatoon. By Dec. 28, the total snowfall for the winter was estimated at 90 centimetres. Goran Saric, the city’s director of roadways, said in a statement that removal efforts have been ongoing since Jan. 2.

Crews have only 20 per cent remaining on Priority 2 and 3 routes, and all priority streets are expected to be completed by Feb. 25, Saric said. Local neighbourhoods should be completed by March 1, Saric added, with 66 per cent of that work already completed.

City and contracted crews will continue to work between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. until the work is done, he said.

So far, 43,238 tandem truckloads of snow have been hauled away from priority streets and 35,277 from local streets, Saric said. That amount of snow would fill more than 600,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

There is no final cost yet for how much the city spent on snow removal. That number will be calculated once all of the snow is removed, but it is expected to be between $18 million and $20 million, which is in line with early estimates.