A Moment with the Mayor: How the City maintains its highways, community roads

Snow means so many different things to different people. Children are often the most excited about snow, snowman building, sleighing and snow forts. Oh, so much fun. For some, it's time to go south for the winter. For the rest of us, snow is something we deal with on our sidewalks, driveways and streets.

What I hear from many residents and business owners each winter are questions regarding the city’s plan for snow and its removal. The City has had a policy for several years regarding snow and its management on city streets. 

What does that plan look like?

First, the plan involves snow plowing or cleaning the major highways and connector roadways identified as priority 1 and 2 routes. Additionally, snow removal occurs in the downtown business district on an as-needed basis, typically once 10-15 centimetres of snow has fallen. City crews work to plow snow as it falls along priority 1 and 2 routes, the plows and graders are assisted by sanding trucks to provide sand and salt to help with traction. The smallest amount of snow packed on our asphalt streets can quickly become smooth and slippery. Our team addresses this with the sanding crews.

What many people want to know the answer to is … When does the City clean residential streets that are not considered a priority 2 route?

For the remainder of the city (non-priority 1 and 2 routes), snow is packed down by vehicle traffic. There is no scheduled plan to remove all the snow on all city streets unless we’ve reached a public safety risk as determined by City Administration, and then the city will start a complete snow removal. You may be wondering why this isn’t done on a regular schedule. Each city-wide residential snow removal costs between $900,000 and $1.2 million. City council budgets for one complete snow removal annually. 

This winter season, we’ve already completed one city-wide snow removal, and work by the City and contractors is already underway for a second removal. If I may be frank on this issue, City Council takes this matter very seriously. The quantity of snow we’ve received this year is overwhelming. One of our snowplows is out of commission as it was hit in an accident, and we’re still waiting for parts. Our mechanics have been hard at work keeping the other equipment running and functional. This can be challenging when we’re in a deep freeze, with temperatures minus 30 degrees Celsius or colder. 

As a community, we must all do our part to help keep the roads passable. We ask you not to push snow from your driveways and sidewalks onto city streets. Together, let’s tackle the snow and have a safe winter.

Visit Lloydminster.ca/SnowOps for more information about the city’s winter maintenance program and policy.

Mayor Gerald S. Aalbers
City of Lloydminster