While the snow is holding off for now, it’s bound to come, and the City of Calgary says it’s ready for another clearing season.

They’ll do it under the new winter maintenance policy, which means snow clearing on high-priority streets and roads (Priority 1 – 20,000 cars per day), downtown streets and wheeling lanes on or adjacent to Priority 1 routes within 18 hours. Within 24 hours LRT stations, priority bus stops, pathways, stairs, ramps, curb cuts and sidewalks next to City of land and infrastructure will be cleared.

In the following 18 hours, the City said they would clear Priority 2 routes or those streets that support transit operations, and with volumes typically more than 5,000 cars per day. It also includes wheeling lanes along those routes.

Chris Hewitt, manager of mobility maintenance at the City of Calgary, said they were able to meet those targets last year as they worked to improve snow clearing around the city. They’re hoping for even better moving forward.

“The times, the 18 hours for our priority ones and then the subsequent 18 hours for our priority twos, we met those targets last year with each event, which was excellent. So, we will be continuing to focus with those as our goal,” he said.

“Like we said earlier, (we’ll be) working towards a system where we clear both party ones and priority twos within a combined 24 hours.”

The policy also saw the introduction of a fine if you remove snow from private property onto public roadways.  It’s also a fine if you pile snow in a protected bike lane.

Hewitt said they will also replicate a pilot project done in the northwest last year where they focus on more Priority 2 routes, particularly those with bus routes. This year, while still providing the service in the northwest, it will also be done in the southeast.

Snow clearing budget

Hewitt said there’s $17 million left in the City of Calgary’s snow-clearing budget for 2024, and that will likely suffice for the remainder of the year.

“In 2023, October to December, we spent about $11 million on snow. We did have a lighter snow season at the beginning of winter 2023,” he said.

“If we were to get into the situation where we had heavy snow for the remainder of 2024 we could dip into our snow and ice control reserve as well to support our operations.”

There’s roughly $6 million available in that reserve, Hewitt said. The City of Calgary did draw $8.9 million from the winter maintenance reserve to put towards pavement rehabilitation in 2025 and 2026.

Hewitt said this year they will continue to be conscious of the windrows (piles of snow created from plowing) but they are a reality in snow-clearing operations.

“However, under the new policy and what we’ve been doing for the last few years is we are being very are being very conscious of removing those windows or not creating them in and around areas where pedestrians or cyclists or people wheeling could be impacted,” he said.

The City of Calgary also wants to remind business and property owners of their responsibility to clear snow from the sidewalks. Those areas should be cleared within 24 hours of a snowfall, the City said.

Hewitt said that winter maintenance plays an important role for Calgarians and their ability to navigate the city safely.

“Snow can happen anytime,” said Hewitt.

“The crews are ready to respond, and our priority snow response aims to minimize disruptions caused by weather conditions while maintaining high standards of public safety and convenience.” 

For more on how the City of Calgary clears roads of snow, visit their webpage.