City contends with slick, icy roads

The salt trucks are out working to clear the iced over roads in Prince Albert after freezing rains fell overnight.

The trucks started salting Priority 1 roads in the city, clearing all of the main streets. Roadways manager Brent Kennedy said the trucks will then move on to Priority 2 streets, which include the bus routes.

Kennedy said that all of the City’s salt trucks are out, and the City was ready for the freezing rain.

“We watched the forecast, and we follow that quite closely and we expected it and that’s why the sanders were out first thing this morning,” he said and added that the City is using “straight” salt on the road. In weather conditions like this, he said they just use salt and no sand.

He said in this kind of weather, the temperature is right and crews can use less material.

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“Vehicles will track this salt down the street. If you have a sand mix in it, it doesn’t track it as well, and [a] sand and salt mix is more used for colder temperatures and where there is snow pack.”

The City may not end up salting residential streets. Staff will keep an eye on the temperature – the City will decide whether it will salt the residential streets after it finishes with the bus routes.

It takes about three to four hours to salt all of the Priority 1 main streets, depending on the temperature. Kennedy said in this temperature, they’ve been able to get through the Priority 1 streets in three hours.

“The warmer the temperature, the quicker the salt will work for us.”

A caller into the paNOW newsroom named Dan said that traffic on 10th Street West was backed up on the hill from 15th Street West due to the icy conditions. He said he couldn’t get up the hill, and coming down, he described the drive as an “ice rink.” 

The icy conditions led to the cancellation of bus services for the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division, the Prince Albert Catholic Schools, Special Needs Transportation and Seniors Transportation. Prince Albert Transit services had been cancelled for the morning, but has since started running.

tjames@panow.com

On Twitter: @thiajames