In February it was a whole different story with the mayor of P.A.warning snow may have to be plowed onto sidewalks. (Glenn Hicks/paNOW Staff)

By Glenn Hicks

clearing the path

The snow crisis that never was

Apr 2, 2019 | 2:03 PM

In February Prince Albert’s mayor controversially warned the excessive amounts of snow would have to be plowed onto sidewalks if the usual big dump or two materialized in March.

However, following a March that was one of the driest on record, the whole issue has faded as quickly as the snow from the city’s streets and road crews are enjoying a far less hectic time than normal.

“We were going to have some issues with where all that snow was going to go,” Brent Kennedy, the city’s roadways manager told paNOW.

He maintains crews would not have had to put it on sidewalks but he’s happy with how the late winter and early spring have gone.

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“Even with the pothole situation, the way the melt went, the amount of potholes we normally fill are way down this year,” he said.

Kennedy said they were getting far fewer calls from the public.

“We don’t have the moisture on the roads getting into cracks, freezing then breaking and popping out … the drainage went well this year,” he said.

Kennedy explained he needed just one crew working on pothole repair for the last three weeks when normally he’d need two.

The snow is gone and P.A. city crews say they are receiving far fewer reports of potholes compared to previous years because of the lack of moisture and the absence of damaging freeze-thaw conditions normally experienced in March and April. (File photo/paNOW Staff)

Residents are encouraged to report any pothole issues, as well as any damage they see with sidewalks now the snow has gone. Curbsides may be showing wear and tear with freezing moisture expanding existing cracks, or potentially because of damage by snowplows or vehicles.

“We’ll go out and inspect the sidewalk and decide if it’ll be repaired this year or go on to next year’s list depending on severity of the damage,” he said.

In the meantime Kennedy is asking residents not shovel snow, gravel or debris from their yards onto the streets as that is against the city’s bylaw.

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow