Calgary’s snow-clearing crews gearing up for winter with a budget of $31 million

With the first snowflakes of the season just around the corner, the City of Calgary says it’s equipped to work 24/7 with a budget of almost $31 million in place, to tackle all that snow coming our way.

“We have 27 graders, that’s what we have behind me here. We have 9 loaders, 9 large blowers, we have approximately 30 to 40 piece of small prices of smaller equipment,” said Chris Hewitt, manager of mobility maintenance with the city.

Speaking to media on Thursday, Hewitt says snow on city roads will be cleared priority wise — 18 hours after the snow stops falling, priority one roads, like Crowchild Trail, Stoney Trail and Glenmore Trail will be cleared.
After 36 hours, priority two roads around communities with major roads and bus routes will be cleaned.

After that, crews turn to clearing priority three routes, which include school and playground zones.

The city says with some funding from last year, it’s going to run a pilot program in northwest Calgary, where they are going to use smaller equipment with blue and amber lights to clear the snow.

“We’re going to be focusing on those priority two roads while it’s snowing and while most of our big equipment is on our priority one routes,” Hewitt explained. “We want to try to keep those priority two routes moving a little bit better concurrently with everything else.”

He warns there is a possibility that the snow route parking ban could be issued to help road crews clear streets from snow.

The last parking ban was issued in 2018 when Calgary saw a significant accumulation of snow.

In terms of accessibility, the city is adding 150 kilometers of clearing to the pathway system, to make it easier for pedestrians, cyclists and those on wheelchairs to access the pathways.