Residential streets are now on the to-do list after large snowfalls, as the city laid out its snow-clearing strategy yesterday.
Dean Bell, city manager of roads maintenance, said streets with more than 12 centimetres of snow will be cleared by city crews, while anything less than that leaves the responsibility up to the resident.
“It adds a huge amount to the workload, but the fact is the interim policy came into effect because of the series of storms that we had last December,” he said.
The city’s interim policy allows the roads department to add on $10 million to its $23-million budget if necessary, specifically for clearing residential areas.
“We want to serve all Calgarians and not abandon the residentials,” said Bell.
Thus far they have used $1.2 million, leaving $8.8 million for the remainder of 2010, explained Bell.
“I think that (Calgarians are) going to get every penny’s worth of what they’re putting into the program,” said Bell.
The city will have snow-removal staff 24-7 beginning Sunday.
