City of Regina preparing for up to 20 centimetres of snow

Even though Regina road crews have transitioned to spring programming, they’re prepared for another blast of winter.

A massive storm is expected to make its way across part of Saskatchewan in the next few days, with some areas expecting to get 30 to 50 centimetres of snow from it.

While Regina isn’t expected to get as much — the City of Regina is expecting about 10 to 20 centimetres of snow to fall — the city is still preparing to go into storm response mode.

“We were still within our winter maintenance shift. A lot of our equipment was still in winter mode. We had transitioned into a lot of the pothole patching and spring sweep but that equipment is different than the winter maintenance equipment,” said Tyler Bien, manager of roadway seasonal operations with the City of Regina.

“We just transitioned back to the winter maintenance state of mind and are ready to go. Our focus is to make the roads safe and passable for all drivers, whether the snow is going to stick around for two months or two days.”

Bien said the city has about 50 pieces of equipment ready to respond to the storm.

“Our crews are out during the storm. In storm mode, we focus on keeping those high-volume, high-speed major roads open and ice-control applied. We also focus on the emergency routes around the hospital and things like that,” Bien said.

Bien said once the snow stops falling, that’s when crews will begin their systematic plow throughout the city.

With some areas expected to get hit hard by the storm, Bien said municipalities can request help through the emergency preparedness unit to get more equipment sent their way.

If there are people who need to be out on the roads, Bien encouraged drivers to take their time on the roads.

“Make sure you leave yourself lots of travel time. Avoid the perimeter roads. With these 60-kilometre(-per-hour) winds, a lot of those perimeter roads may get blown in (and) visibility may be reduced, so take your time (and) plan your route,” Bien said.