CALGARY -- It’s the calm before an anticipated blast of snow this weekend, but City of Calgary crews maintain they’re ready even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The seven-day snow plan has been implemented by road crews with a focus set first on clearing high traffic Priority 1 routes, including Crowchild Trail and Glenmore Trail, where more than 20,000 vehicles travel each day.
As of 9:30 a.m., a snow squall watch had been issued for Calgary and areas throughout southern Alberta are under snowfall warnings and snow squall watches.
Sidewalks, pathways pedestrian overpasses and LRT platforms are also top of mind before moving on to secondary routes where 5,000 to 19,999 vehicles drive each day. The secondary routes include Kensington Road.
Once completed, crews will then clear snow from residential areas and playground zones.
According to CTV Calgary meteorologist Kevin Stanfield, the city could see anywhere between four to six centimetres of snow on Friday and then another five centimetres on Sunday.
City road crews are confident they will be able to handle this season’s snowfall given their $40 million snow clearing budget.
About $25 million was spent from January to April of this year, and $15 million remains.
With higher volumes of snow expected, there is also the potential the city could call a snow route parking ban.
Those bans are called when there is a significant accumulation of snowfall where on-street parking could be banned for up to 72 hours in areas designated by blue snowflake signs to allow crews to remove snow.
