Swift Current streets might benefit from City’s new snow clearing initiative
There might be fewer potholes on streets around Swift Current this spring due to a new initiative to clean snow and ice from road surfaces.
City General Manager of Infrastructure and Operations Mitch Minken said there has been less damage to road surfaces this winter compared to previous years. He felt several factors play a role.
“While we have had some freeze-thaws, we haven't had major freeze-thaws,” he noted. “And our new initiative on working on keeping the streets clear, getting the ice off and the snowpack off, will help us as well.”
He expects this will help to reduce the number of potholes on streets as spring temperatures arrive.
“Even as we start the melt, we won't see as much water on the street while the streets are still frozen, which is what tends to lead to the breakages and the potholes,” he explained. “The water gets in underneath the pavement, cars drive over it, break the pavement away and the next thing you know you have a pothole. So without the water, that should hopefully help reduce the amount of breakage we see.”
The City's new initiative has targeted snow clearing in zones around the community. Crews will work in a zone for a day or two to clean the streets and then move on to the next zone. Graders will initially plow and scrape the ice and snow into windrows. Thereafter the City's snowblower and trucks will come along to remove the windrows.
According to Minken the City was able to implement the new initiative by taking a fresh look at how snow removal is done.
“We did all of this with our own resources,” he said. “So there was no huge increase in cost for this, because we did it in-house with people that are here working all the time anyway. It was just a change in priority for them and it didn't impact any of our other services. So it was just a shift in priorities.”
The City will have to wait for a while to see how much of a difference the new approach will make to road surfaces during the spring melt, but the response from residents already reflect a positive outcome.
“It sure has in terms of the snow removal and of the feedback that we've gotten back that it's much nicer to drive around and less accidents, because of ice rutting and stuff,” he said. “So we'll see what the spring brings out of this new program.”
However, he cautioned there will still be damage to roads as a result of the natural freeze-thaw cycle that occurs.
“You know, it's Saskatchewan,” he said. “There's always going to be that cycle of repair work that has to be done in the spring. You're never going to avoid it. It's the freeze-thaw cycle. We endeavour through our programs to keep our streets in as good a condition as we can, do our crack sealing to prevent water from getting underneath the pavement, but water has a way of finding its way wherever it wants.”
High traffic areas around the city will naturally be more prone to road surface damage and the appearance of potholes.
“I think we've seen some already around Memorial Drive and Highway 1, through that complex there where it's been a bit roughed up,” he said.
Other high traffic areas where motorists can expect to encounter potholes and road surface damage are along Central Avenue North where it crosses underneath the Trans-Canada Highway as well as 6th Avenue NE between Cheadle and Chaplin streets.
The effect of the snow clearing initiative will likely be drier streets sooner during spring, because there will be less snow and ice to melt away on road surfaces. Resident might then start wondering when the City will start sweeping the dusty streets.
Minken indicated it will depend on conditions, but street sweeping will probably start early in May.
“We may get going a little bit earlier in April, but typically it's around the beginning of May when we'll start trying to pick up all that sand we've been putting down all winter,” he said.