Saskatoon snow removal estimated to cost $10-15 million

City of Saskatoon workers are still clearing snow from the streets one week after a massive blizzard.

Terry Schmidt, the transportation general manager, said the process was ahead of schedule and may finish ahead of next Friday, which was the original goal.

“Our crews have made great progress the past days and nights and will continue to work 24 hours a day until residential streets are cleared in all city neighbourhoods,” he said.

He added that he expected roughly 75 per cent of the city to be cleared by Sunday evening.

He said nearly 300 people are working to clear the snow, up from 200 about a week ago.

When asked how much the efforts will cost, city manager Jeff Jorgenson estimated $10-15 million, based on previous reports and estimates presented to city council.

“Clearing is going to be definitely part of the cost — this work that we’re doing now. The significant part of the cost is actually going to be in the removal,” he said, speaking over Zoom.

He said only the clearing will be done next week and that removal will take place after that.

Jorgenson said there was no estimate as to when the snow would be removed — though it would take many more weeks — but said it is a priority.

“We do want to be fairly aggressive about it too because the sooner we get that snow gone that just gives everybody more storage because we’re going to get a lot more snow through the winter.”