MOOSE JAW — City hall proposes making a “huge operational change” to its snow-clearing policy by extending the time it takes to clear roads after blizzards and reducing the number of priority haul routes.
City administration presented the proposed changes during the recent executive committee meeting.
Bevan Harlton, director of operations, said this updated policy has a “defined commitment to removal” of snow. Therefore, his department is increasing how long it takes to plow streets and reducing the number of priority haul routes from four to three, which is “a huge operational change” for employees driving the graders.
Continuing, he said previously, crews were reaching priority 3 areas that had become priority 4 because staff were beyond the 72-hour clearance window and already into the 96-hour window. So, putting all roads into three priority clearance zones makes it easier to tie the routes together.
Harlton added that adding an extra 12 hours to priority 2 and 3 zones allows crews to remove snow from those areas more effectively.
Priority service updates
Priority 1 service will focus on clearing arterial roads, essential services and corridors adjacent to and connecting to Highways 1, 2 and 363, the report said.
In the previous policy, city crews plowed 48,162 metres of priority 1 routes, but under the new policy, they would clear 48,595 metres of roads — an increase of 433 metres.
Priority 2 service will focus on clearing bus routes, downtown metered parking spots and collector routes, while the city has moved the downtown area — Main Street and High Street — into this area from priority 1, said the report.
Moving those two streets here allows downtown businesses to push the snow from their sidewalks onto the roads, allowing city crews to remove that snow when they come through, the document continued.
This also aligns operations with a bylaw that requires business owners to remove snow from their sidewalks by 9 a.m. or within 48 hours after heavy snowfalls.
The previous policy saw crews plow 30,073 metres of streets in priority 2, while the new policy will see staff clear 38,818 metres — an increase of 8,745 metres — and remove snow from 11,832 metres.
Priority 3 service will see crews clear snow from remaining collector roads, connections to city venues, surrounding grid roads and school sites, the report said. Moreover, this service level combines previous priority 3 and 4 locations and leads to the most changes based on school locations, transit routes and road classifications.
The previous policy saw crews plow 26,364 metres of priority 3 streets and 19,119 metres of priority 4 streets, while the new policy will see 55,528 metres of priority 3 streets plowed and snow hauled from 6,395 metres of priority 3 streets, the document showed.
Priority 4 service focuses on designated arterial roads, where crews will remove snow once other priority streets are cleared, the report said. Crews may remove snow outside of designated areas after city hall determines that snow storage may impede traffic or windrows exceed one metre in height.
The report noted that crews will remove snow from 12,250 metres of priority 4 roads.
Harlton told council that the updated policy will see crews clear 143 kilometres of roads compared to 124 kilometres under the previous policy — an increase of roughly 15 per cent — while staff will remove snow from 30.5 kilometres of streets.
Continuing, he said that roughly two-thirds of winter maintenance expenses — this year’s budget is $1,596,258.67, while it was $1,766,769.04 in 2024 — are to remove snow, while one-third of costs are for clearing streets.
Also, offering rut-blading service will cost $70,000 to $130,000, while there are 115 kilometres of roads that this service could address since they aren’t included in the priority areas, Harlton added.
The next executive committee meeting is Monday, Aug. 25.
