City of Regina looking for public opinion on snow routes

Snow removal is never fully effective when cars line the streets.

The City of Regina is looking to implement new snow routes. Meaning vehicles could no longer park on specific streets during specific hours.

“It allows us to evenly distribute the snow on the road where as now when we go down a road with parked vehicles we wind up leaving a snow ridge around them,” Roadways and Transportation Director Norman Kyle said.

In other words, cars that don’t move will turn into igloo’s and could be decorated with tickets.

Vehicles could also be towed, but in an effort to lower this risk the city is asking for your opinion.

Two bylaw options will be presented at a public forum this evening.

Option A is that cars need to be off the street between the hours of midnight and early morning.

Option B would include a public notice informing residents that a high percentage of snow is coming and they cannot park on the street for up to 48 hours, or until it is plowed.

However, some residents in the downtown core are worried that they have no other options. Many homes either have limited or no parking, making the street their only resource.

Some condo owners are only given one parking spot and are forced to park a second vehicle on the street unless they want to pay up.

The city has clarified that residential streets are not their main concern when it comes to snow removal.

“Usually we just do a blade-ing to level them out, we don’t do a lot of removal on them,” Kyle clarified.

“But if the public wanted that, that is something we could consider.”

He clarified that snow routes would mainly effect busier streets such as Albert St., or Victoria Ave.

This is because priorities lie with emergency vehicles and allowing residents to get to and from work safely.

Global News hit the streets to ask residents how they feel about the possible snow routes and additional bylaws.

Many of the Regina residence we spoke with said moving cars off the street could be annoying, but worth it for effective snow removal.

The second open house will be held Thursday, April 7, 6:30 p.m. at Archbishop M.C. O’Neil High School, 134 Argyle Street.