A pickup makes its way through Prince Albert's central business district on Monday. Smaller cars were not so lucky. (Susan McNeil/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

More snow coming

City working to keep up with snow clearing

Nov 8, 2022 | 8:40 AM

From grass to snow in a few hours, Prince Albert switched seasons quickly this past weekend.

Another 10 to 15 cm of snow was expected to start falling Monday night and taper off Tuesday morning. Public Works director Wes Hicks said crews started early on Sunday.

“When Sunday came along, our crews went out and they started clearing. They did not encounter many cars,” he said.

Streets are divided into four broad categories and prioritized with the main thoroughfares being cleared first.

Hicks said when the plows started at 5:00 am, they moved with relative ease as the Priority 1 streets are signed with no parking so there are no vehicles in the way.

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That’s a different story for Priority 2 streets which include busier streets that also have residences on them.

“Priority two streets, there’s more of them, they’re more through residential areas, there’s more two-lane roads, there’s more on-street parking,” he said.

Public Works declared a snow event Monday morning, which means that vehicles are asked to not park on streets in the Priority 2 zone.

The city clears streets based on a colour coded priority system. (City of Prince Albert map)

Mayor Greg Dionne also reminded people to not blow snow onto city streets and that additional snowfalls mean starting over at the beginning.

“I understand we’re supposed to get another 10 which causes a problem because we just move off priority one to get into the residential and then we have to retreat back,” he said.

He thanked people for being patient and encouraged residents to help out neighbours who might need it.

In order to clear all streets quicker, the city would have to buy another grader at a minimum cost of $500,000.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com