The winter storm from this past weekend forced City of Regina snow removal crews into action.

As a part of the winter maintenance policy, the City has attempted to take a more coordinated and enhanced approach to both the plowing and ice control of streets.

Chris Warren, from the City of Regina, said that removal crews are available around the clock after a major snowfall event to ensure the city’s streets are cleaned in a timely manner. “During the storm and the subsequent systematic plowing operations we do move into a 24/7 operation so we do have staff available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to ensure we are addressing those icy conditions throughout the entire day.”

The goal of the City is once a plow goes down a street that the ice control follows shortly afterwards.

Warren says that ice control mixture contains more sand with salt being less effective melting ice when it is extremely cold outside which forced cyclical work. “The sand and salt that we are applying is quite quickly through vehicles travelling over top of it trapped and pushed aside that really ensures that we continue to focus our efforts in cycling through those road networks.”

With the new year just around the corner, the snow clearing by-law for homeowners is about to take effect.

Beginning January 1, residents are required to clear off their sidewalks 48 hours after a major snowfall event.

The City passed the by-law to promote active transportation within the Queen City’s sidewalks.

Free sand will be provided to residents at 19 different locations to help clear off their sidewalks.

Residents are asked to bring a pail with them to the free sand location.

To find a list of locations where citizens can pick up their free sand, they are asked to visit the City of Regina’s website at https://www.regina.ca/transportation-roads-parking/seasonal-maintenance/snow-ice-control/#outline-winter-sandbox-map