The big melt is on but the unusual amount of snow still on the ground is now a slushy, messy mix for drivers.
However, if you live on a street that sees less than 5,000 vehicles travelling on it a day, don’t expect the city to clear it.
“It is our policy right now to not plow residential roads,” said Calgary roads spokesperson Kelsey Strachan.
While Ald. Bob Hawkesworth believes something should be done, he said it’s tough to balance the amount of equipment needed to clear snow.
“You don’t want extraordinary capacity for the seven or eight years that you don’t need it, in order that it’s there for the one year that you do,” he said.
The city’s water department is also dealing with the thaw by clearing catch basins blocked by ice or snow. Mike MacIsaac, the city’s leader of asset assessment for the water
department hoped that there won’t be too much of a freeze-thaw
cycle.
“That’s bad for the system because the little bit of that water doesn’t get to the river, freezes in the system and some more of that builds up, gradually choking off the system,” he said.
