The icy fallout from Edmonton’s unusually warm pre-Christmas weather continues as crews continue their work on icy streets throughout the city, according to an official who spoke to reporters on Monday.
“We’re hoping to have this all completed by tomorrow morning,” said, Janet Tecklenborg, director of infrastructure operations for the City of Edmonton. “It usually takes about 48 hours to complete our residential rounds.”
Alberta’s capital has gone through a few melting and freezing cycles in recent weeks and on Friday, after several days of above-zero temperatures, melting snow and freezing rain turned to ice and turned already-slick roads and sidewalks into skating rinks.
READ MORE: Overnight rain creates treacherous conditions on Edmonton roads, dozens of crashes reported
Watch below: It was commuter chaos Friday morning, after overnight rain turned roads into skating rinks in the Edmonton region. Fletcher Kent filed this report on Dec. 15, 2017.
On Monday, Tecklenborg said the city’s call centre fielded over 1,000 complaints about the icy conditions over the weekend, about two-thirds of the calls coming from south of the North Saskatchewan River.
‘”We dispatched our sanding crew with a mix of sand, salt and chip in order to address that (Friday’s icy conditions) – we did that through most of Saturday,” she said. “On Sunday, we continued to see freezing rain in mostly the residential areas south of town and as a result, we went up to 120 staff on and we were operating approximately 70 vehicles and we went to 100 per cent salt mix to be able to melt the ice and so far, it seems to be working relatively well.
“We’ve also been addressing trails as well as sidewalks.”
Tecklenborg said city crews continue to work diligently to make sure city property is clear and walkable but encourage people to clear sidewalks in front of their property to help with the city’s efforts.
“If you’re having difficulty, please use sand and salt so you can limit trips and slips in front of your place because it is very slippery if it’s not cleared.”
READ MORE: Edmonton teens turn slippery streets into skating rink, while mom demands city sands
Watch below: Two Edmonton teens caught the eyes of their neighbours in the fall of 2017 after lacing up to skate on the icy streets.
She added snow was briefly in the forecast on the weekend and Red Deer has seen snow fall, prompting the city to proactively complete a de-icing route on major streets on Sunday. She added crews use a road salt on residential roads to help melt ice, adding people in areas that haven’t had their roads salted should call 311.
Tecklenborg added back alleys are dealt with by crews on an “as-needed” basis and if anyone has concerns about an alley, they should call 311.
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