Regina residents hammer at ice to clear slick streets, prevent dog park slips

Deep ruts and slippery sidewalks are causing dangerous situations for people living in Regina’s residential neighbourhoods.

Terry Molloy hammered away at the sheets of bumpy ice with a pick and shovel in front of her home in the Cathedral neighbourhood.

“I’m just trying to clear the sidewalk to make it easier for everybody to walk,” she said. “We get the newspaper and we get the mail, and if they have to slip and slide all over the place – then we don’t get them.”

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The shade provided by the trees in the neighbourhood hasn’t melted away much of the ice during the freeze-thaw cycle.

Molloy steered away from salting the slippery spots so it wouldn’t hurt her pets feet. The ice wasn’t as thick Molloy originally thought, but it was hard work planning to put in a few hours of chipping.

“I’m gonna strip down pretty soon, because (it’s) pretty hot right now,” she laughed.

Molloy said this was some of the worst icy conditions she’s seen in the neighbourhood.

“It’s pretty hairy,” she said, describing the condition of the sidewalk. “Everybody tromping through leaves ridges where everybody went … (when) you hit a rut in the on the sidewalk, then you twist your ankles.”

Molloy said she has watched many walkers gravitate towards bare patches in the street instead of walking down the sidewalks.

Dog park covered in ice

Tony Blacklock waddled like a penguin to take his two dogs for a walk.

The Cathy Lauritsen Memorial Off-Leash Dog Park has turned into a sheet of ice cratered like the moon.

“(It’s) a pain because you’re looking for the grass patches to walk on,” Blacklock said.

He takes his two dogs to the park often and said they slide around in these conditions.

“They’re four-wheeled, but they do skitter a little bit,” Blacklock said. “They don’t do a lot of running, so they’re pretty good.”

David Armstrong said it is the iciest he’s seen the dog park so far this year, though it’s still better than city sidewalks at present.

“A lot of the snow is melted down, turned to water, and today it’s ice,” he said.