On Thursday the City of Prince Albert sent out an update on the snow clearing process after last weekend’s heavy snowfall.
City crews have been out every day since Sunday when they began clearing priority 1 streets, which continued on Monday. Crews started on priority 2 streets on Tuesday and completed on Wednesday.
Downtown was started on Thursday morning with snow pushed to the side to allow for a driving lane. Snow will be trucked out of Central Avenue on Friday morning. On Thursday crews began to grade avenues. The city noted that if numerous cars are parked in an area they will not complete the street.
Priority 1 are Main arterials, Priority 2 are Collector streets, bus routes and school zones, Priority 3 is Downtown (Central Business District) and Priority 4 is Residential.
Friday crews are expected to start in residential areas. Residential clearing follows garbage and recycling pick-up schedule so bins are not in the way.The planned order of plowing is as follows: Starting Friday crews will be in Midtown, East Hill, Southwood, Nordale and Hazeldell. On Saturday areas include West Hill and West Flat, Sunday, Carlton Park, Crescent Acres and Crescent Heights and Monday is East Flat and Riverview.
The city noted that contracted graders have been hired to assist in the residential plowing. No parking signs will be put up 12 hours in advance in each neighbourhood. Be sure not to park on the street whereever possible.
In residential areas, the city reminded residents of a few things.
- Banks of snow along the curbs (windrows) are a necessary part of the process. Except in identified areas like 2nd avenue west, downtown, etc. snow is not trucked away.
- Driveways – Every effort is made to ensure that windrows are not left on driveways. If a windrow is greater than 12 inches, crews will return to have it removed. You need to call 953-4900 to report it. Please note that a loader follows the grader operator to remove windrows. Please allow some time before reporting to issue to ensure the second operator has time to clear the driveway.
- Cul-de-sacs – Snow is often piled in the centre of a cul-de-sac or in the middle of a main street to allow for timely clearing of driving lanes. Crews will return at a later time to truck out the snow.
- Sidewalks – Under certain conditions, where there is a greater volume of snow, one third of the sidewalk may be used for snow plowing operations. In these cases, property owners would be responsible for clearing the remaining two-thirds of the sidewalk.
Updates will be posted to the city’s social media pages.
