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Snow and cold offer twice the headache for city roads crew |
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Written by Jeff Wiebe
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Monday, 15 December 2008 |
When the fluffy white stuff starts falling, city snow removal crews rise to the occasion.
But the weekend’s twin shocks of rapidly plummeting temperatures and large amounts of snowfall presented unique challenges for the crews.
Working on 12-hours shifts, equipment operators began their work Friday night to clear the top-priority roadways, the most urgent of which was Whoop-Up Drive. Crews worked through the night and the rest of the weekend, but when it came time to sand the roads on Sunday, there was a problem.
“At these temperatures, sanding doesn’t do a lot of good, because it won’t stay on the road,” says Kevin Viergutz, transportation operations manager with the City of Lethbridge.
Viergutz added strong winds certainly didn’t help the situation.
“What happens is that you throw the sand down on the road and it blows off.”
Crews managed to get the city’s main arterial roads cleaned, but Viergutz cautions motorists should drive with extreme caution and maintain safe following distances, especially on residential neighbourhood roads.
The city has ordered special equipment for its sanders that will use de-icer to help the sand stick better to snow and ice. All sanding equipment will have the upgrades installed in the near future, says Viergutz.
And with Environment Canada forecasting chilly temperatures and continued snowfall throughout the week, cleaning crews will have their work cut out for them.
“We’ll keep an eye on the forecast, and if it snows and we have to do some more plowing, we’ll do that.”
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