Fresh snowfall creates icy conditions on Regina roads

Southern Saskatchewan woke up to a fresh layer of snow Wednesday morning which created less than ideal conditions on roads and highways.

The morning commute was slow in Regina with roads very slick and icy at city intersections.

Since midnight in Regina, there have been 31 vehicle collisions and two accidents involving injuries.

Mounties were also urging people to stay off the roads overnight due to treacherous highway conditions in the southwest corner of the province, including Kindersley, Maidstone and Rosetown.

Most of the province was affected, Steve Shaheen, a highways ministry spokesperson, said.

“It was a fairly wide system that moved from northwest to southeast,” he said.

“We’re up against mother nature a lot of the time, so it’s hard to predict, but what we often do is we will wait…our crews will do the best they can while the storm is going through, but really the real work begins after the system ends,” Shaheen said.

Saskatchewan’s Highways Hotline is also reporting winter-like conditions for the majority of major highways in southern Saskatchewan, including Highway #1 to the Alberta border and Highway #11 to Saskatoon.

City crews started salting and sanding streets at 4 a.m., Norman Kyle, City of Regina’s director of roadways and transportation, said.

While some people hunkered down inside, workers outside the mâmawéyatitân centre weren’t deterred by the snow.

“It’s really effective because once we have the sod down, we have the snow cover on top of it, then we don’t have to water it when the snow melts,” Wilco forman David Gabric said. “We have a job to get done, so no matter what, we get ‘er done.”

“But it’s a first for me for sure, laying sod in the snow.”

The forecast for much of southern Saskatchewan is calling for more flurries until Thursday.

–with files from Jules Knox