CALGARY – Snow-choked streets could make a lot of Calgarians late for supper Tuesday evening.
The city’s roads department assigned over 100 pieces of snow-clearing equipment on Tuesday – every plow in its fleet. But it was often a losing battle.
“Crews are just trying to keep up with the Priority 1 routes and trying to get some pickle down to provide a little extra traction for people,” said Jessica Bell, a city spokesperson.
They were forced to plow and re-plow the same streets over and over as snow continued to fall throughout the day.
Once crews finish clearing Priority 1 routes, they will move on to Priority 2 routes, as well as feeder and collector roads.
Environment Canada dropped its snowfall warning late Tuesday afternoon, after predicting Calgary could see up to 15 cm.
Across the city, the crashes piled up, including a smash-up at Barlow Trail and Centre Avenue N.E. in which a car slid through a median and collided with a semi.
No serious injuries were reported, but police had to close the road while first responders pried the two vehicles apart.
CLICK HERE for a map showing current Calgary road conditions.
Police say there were 130 collisions reported between midnight and 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, eight of which involved injuries.
But amidst the mayhem, the City decided not to issue a parking ban.
“At this time, we are not anticipating a snow or parking ban to be called,” said Bell. “However it is definitely something that we are keeping on our radar and just kind of monitoring the conditions and monitoring the crews to see if we are really needing one.”
When a snow route parking ban is in place, residents parked on designated snow routes must move their vehicles – and can be ticketed or towed if they don’t.
Snow routes include major roadways, collector roads and most bus routes, and are marked by blue signs with a white snowflake.
For more information on snow routes you can visit Calgary.ca/snow.
Not everyone is unhappy about the white stuff. Private contractors were finally back to work after taking off most of December.
“We say every flake is a penny – or nickel, now since pennies are obsolete,” said Michael Mansour, adding he would be working at least 14 hours clearing snow.
Other Calgarians packed it in early, to try again another day.
“I am going home, going to phone the doctor’s office and say I can’t get there,” said Eleanor Christiansen, whose car got stuck near Mayland Heights.
Calgary’s seven day weather forecast
A forecast issued Tuesday called for more flurries every day until Friday.
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