"Wow, driving conditions on Saskatchewan roads in the winter are great!" - Said no one, ever.
I get it, road conditions are not optimal in the winter. Welcome to Regina. But the City does a good job with the budget and resources it has. Want more trucks, more service, and sidewalk clearance? Let's talk mill rate increases. Here's some information about the current Winter Maintenance Policy.
Regina's Winter Maintenance Policy states that during periods of snow and slippery road conditions, our Ice Control Program will cycle through our road network providing sand and salt when slippery conditions exist along the following guidelines:
- Category 1 (speeds greater than 70 km/h) – once every 12 hours
- Category 1 (speeds less than 70 km/h) – once every 24 hours
- Category 2 – once every 24 hours
- Category 3 High Speed roads – once every 48 hours
- Category 4 High Speed roads – once every 48 hours
- Category 5 High Speed roads – once every 120 hours
The Policy also states crews are to apply sand and salt when slippery conditions exist to the road as follows:
- Road sections leading up to the intersection or crosswalk,
- Curves,
- Grades (inclines, declines, hills),
- Bridge decks including sections leading up to,
- Subways,
- School zones,
- Ramps and merge lanes
Regina's Winter Maintenance shift is structured to be able to meet the minimum guidelines and timelines in the Policy. As the snow accumulates and more activities in the Policy are needed, for example snow removal, crew sizes are increased to be able to meet Policy guidelines. As the winter conditions cease, crew sizes are reduced and/or employees re-purposes to other operational activities such as hauling aggregates, repairing portholes, and street sweeping.
The City has 16 Ice Control trucks. Typically 10 are out sanding in the 10 city areas, 1 is used for training and there are typically 4-5 down for repairs at any given time.