Regina residential snow plow starts Monday

A snow route sign is seen in Regina, Sask. (Gareth Dillistone / CTV Regina)

The City of Regina will start snow plowing residential roads on Monday.

Over the holidays, the Queen City was hit by two snow events bringing about 18 centimetres of accumulation, triggering residential route clearing.

Chris Warren, director of roadways and transportation, said there have been recent improvements to the city’s Winter Maintenance Policy that started this year. The residential plow routes are now triggered after 15 centimetres of snowfall, compared to the previous 25 centimetre requirement.

Residents are asked to move their cars off the street from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. when plows are scheduled to clear their street.

“Residents should do their best to get their vehicles off the street into their driveways, maybe sharing a driveway space with a neighbour, just to really get their vehicles off the street until that plow goes through is the best help we could ask for,” Warren said.

Starting Jan. 1, residents will be required to clear the snow from the sidewalks in front of their homes within 48 hours of the snowfall.

Warren said snowplows will leave a ridge of snow along the outer sides of the road, typically in the parking lanes, against the sidewalk.

“We recognize that sometimes with the amount of snow being plowed and the obstacles that the operators are overcoming and plowing around that sometimes snow does fall onto the sidewalk. Our operators are doing their best to not allow that to happen,” Warren said.

“In the circumstance that it does happen, we would just ask that residents call Service Regina, let our staff know and we will have crews go out there and remove the snow off the sidewalk.”

The residential route clearing is expected to take 11 days, weather permitting.

The snow plow schedule is posted on the City of Regina website.