Riders' O'Day believes positive steps taken in 2024
Nov 21, 2024
Work has now begun on evaluating the roster ahead of the 2025 season.
Just a few days after 17 cm of snow fell on Saskatoon, Environment Canada is predicting another 25 cm could begin falling around noon Saturday. The snowfall is expected to continue until sometime Sunday morning.
That forecast has Saskatoon city officials, who are already trying to clear the roads, preparing for worsening conditions that could affect not only residents, but emergency services and transit.
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Pamela Goulden-McLeod, director of emergency management, is asking people to get any supplies they need by noon on Saturday, and then stay at home for the rest of the weekend as much as possible.
“This is going to be an inconvenient weekend for you. Get ahead. Plan how you’re going to be prepared for this,” she said.
Pamela Goulden-McLeod, City of Saskatoon director of emergency operations. (Lara Fominoff/650 CKOM)
Goulden-McLeod pointed out that the fewer vehicles there are on city streets, the easier it is for emergency services to get around, and for snow removal crews to clear priority roads.
“So please, go get your grocery shopping done, go get your errands done. Stay home and hunker down on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning,” she said.
Goulden-McLeod said the Environment Canada snowfall warning will likely affect much of the southern half of the province, and she urges anyone who must travel, to keep an eye on the provincial government’s highway hotline as well.
“It’s not looking good for the highways outside of Saskatoon, and so we really want you to be safe. Make sure you have an emergency kit in your vehicle, and your phones are charged up if you decide to get in your vehicle,” she said.
Weekend road clearing plans
Goran Saric, director of roadways, fleet, and support for the city, said if at least 25 cm of snow falls over the weekend and mobility is affected to the point that a light vehicle can not travel on city streets, the winter roads emergency response plan may be activated.
“If that plan is activated — and the city manager does have the authority to activate that plan — our plan will be expanded not just to focus on the priority streets, which is our normal practice after a normal snow event, but it will also include grading of local streets,” he said.
That decision won’t likely be made until Sunday. Regardless, Saric expects the snowfall to make driving extremely challenging.
“Snow-covered roads, reduced visibility, increased chances of people with lighter vehicles getting stuck,” he added.
As of Friday evening, there were 26 graders, 13 sanders, five plows and seven sidewalk plows already clearing around the city.
All Priority 1 streets and 80 per cent of Priority 2 streets had been cleared, and 50 per cent of Priority 3 streets had been cleared.
More information on snow clearing can be found here.
Plan to maintain regular transit service
Mike Moellenbeck, director of Saskatoon Transit, said the plan was to maintain regular transit service over the weekend through the storm.
“However, we do advise riders to prepare for delays of up to 20 minutes and more as roadway conditions degrade,” he explained.
Moellenbeck noted that buses may also stay on a street to pick up riders, rather than pull into a bus stop, in order to prevent them from becoming stuck.
“We will keep an eye on road conditions and adjust our service as necessary, and provided notifications to our riders if delays of greater than 20 minutes exist and if detours and/or stops in neighbourhoods become inaccessible,” he added.
He asked that Access Transit customers reschedule any non-urgent appointments, as service may be cancelled.
More information on transit routes can be found here.
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