The City’s Snow and Ice Control Policy describes the manner in which snow and ice control will be conducted by City forces. (You can find the actual policy on the Policies page under Public Works.) The purpose of the policy is to outline the process that the Public Works Department will utilize:

• To provide for the operation of emergency services and transit;
• To provide vehicular traffic with adequate mobility under prevailing winter conditions within the City’s financial resources;
• To prevent or reduce accidents or injuries due to winter conditions;
• To minimize economic loss to the community resulting from restricted transportation routes and;
• To ensure that city owned parking lots do not become impassible.

SNOW REMOVAL PRIORITY SYSTEM

Snow removal is conducted according to a priority system, starting with major roadways and emergency streets. When storms are continuous, or closely follow one another, operations will be repeated or continued on the routes of highest priority until all such roads are completed before moving onto streets of a lesser priority.

See Priority Route Map

Priority 1: Major Arterial Roads and Emergency Routes
• Roads will be open in 24 hours, have Ice control operations concluded in 24 hours and will be ploughed to remove snow as close to the road surface as possible.

Priority 2: Collector Roads, City Bus Routes and School Zones
• Roads will be opened in 48 hours, ploughed in 120 hours and have ice control operations concluded within 48 hours.
• Priority 2 roads will be ploughed to remove snow, but snow of varying depths may be left on the road in accordance with what is required to minimize driving difficulty. School Zones will either have snow blown off the roadway surface or will have snow lifted to a designated snow dump.

Priority 3: Central Business District
• Roads will be opened, ploughed and have ice control operations concluded as determined by the Director of Public Works or designate.
• Priority 3 will be bladed to maintain a compacted snow surface
• PLEASE NOTE:  While Central Avenue from 15th Street to River Street is located in the Central Business District, it is instead designated as a Priority One street.

Priority 4: Residential
• Roads will be open, ploughed and have ice control operations concluded as determined by the Director of Public Works or designate.
• Priority 4 roads will be completed only after all other priority streets are ploughed and will only be completed as required to ensure that they are passable.
• Priority 4 roads are shown on the Residential Plowing Schedule. Lanes are considered the lowest priority and will be conducted based on feasibility.

SNOW ROUTES & SNOW ROUTE PARKING BANS

Snow removal activities are quicker and more thorough when vehicles are removed beforehand from the roadway. To ensure more timely snow removal throughout the City, Snow Routes have been established along major arterials and emergency routes.

Parking will be prohibited on Snow Routes (see Priority 1 routes on map below) when a Snow Route Parking Ban is declared. Parking bans will be declared at either 9:00 a.m. or 4:00 p.m.  The parking bans will require drivers to immediately remove their vehicles from Snow Routes which will be marked by a snow route sign.

See map of priority Snow Routes

Parking bans will be temporary, usually lasting 48 hours, unless persistent snowfall requires a parking ban to be re-declared. In the event that a parking ban is declared, notices will be released to local radio stations and will be posted on the City’s Website.

If the Priority One streets are cleared before the 48 hours has lapsed and there is no threat of a continuing storm, the parking ban may be withdrawn sooner.  In this case, a posting will be made on the City website and notifications will be sent to local media.

The effectiveness of the policy depends on the cooperation of drivers and property owners.  Parking bans and sidewalk snow removal requirements will remain on a voluntary basis.  Enforcement options such as fines and towing will be considered if voluntary compliance proves to be ineffective.

See Frequently Asked Questions for more information.

SIDEWALK SNOW REMOVAL

For the sake of pedestrian safety and mobility, the City of Prince Albert Snow and Ice Control Policy asks that property owners clear their sidewalks within 48 hours of a snowfall.

Sidewalk snow removal in the Downtown (Central Business District) is a requirement of the Clean Side Walk Bylaw. See Clean Sidewalk Bylaw on the Bylaws page.

Public Works
City of Prince Albert
1084 Central Avenue
Prince Albert, SK
S6V 7P3

Phone : (306) 953-4900
Fax : (306) 953-4915