Roads and highways in and around Calgary are slick and slippery and emergency crews have responded to dozens of crashes in the city over the last few days.

A snow storm swept into the area earlier this week bringing up to 35 centimeters of snow to some areas and city crews have been working around the clock to keep roads clear.

The roads are very slippery especially on off ramps, bridge decks, hills and intersections and police have responded to over 100 collisions since Thursday evening.

Emergency crews were called to the scene of a multi-vehicle crash on Stoney Trail, between Chaparral Blvd & Cranston Blvd, at about 9:00 a.m.

A number of drivers who were involved in the crash say a wall of thick fog reduced visibility and they were unable to see what was in front of them.

“Earlier today, around 9:00 a.m., drivers on westbound Stoney Trail, over top of the Bow River, came into some heavy fog that came up from the river, probably from the cold temperatures, started a string of car accidents ending in approximately 50 vehicles colliding over top of the Bow River,” said CPS Duty S/Sgt. Jeff Bell.

Officials say over 50 vehicles were involved and firefighters had to climb over the mangled wrecks to free people from their vehicles.

“There’s, obviously as you can feel on the ground, there’s a little bit of glare to the roads right now, a little bit icy, that’s partly because of the humidity that’s coming up from the river so that does play a factor but couple that with the storm we had yesterday and the cold temperatures, it just made for the perfect conditions,” said Bell. “The response was very difficult due to the location and the physical barriers just from the environment as well as location made it difficult for police and city tow trucks to respond so that combined with the elements, it was a very difficult situation.”

EMS says eight people were taken to hospital in stable, non-life threatening condition.

“We’re very lucky that there wasn’t any major injuries in this, there were some people who had some minor injuries who were transported to hospital. On this day we’re pretty lucky, very lucky,” Bell added.

The roadway remains closed while crews clear the debris and traffic is being diverted onto other routes.

“Shutting down Deerfoot earlier this week was a big event for us but I would say this is probably the worst collision, by volume, that we’ve ever seen,” said Bell.

Authorities are advising people to avoid driving if possible but say those who have to travel should plan ahead, drive to the conditions and give crews room to work.

There are also some transit delays and riders are being advised to check routes online before they head out or follow@calgarytransit on twitter for updates.

Auto service companies in the city are also busy and the AMA estimates a 16 hour wait time for towing and battery replacement.

“We greatly apologize for the folks that have to wait. We’re trying to prioritize the calls as much as we can, we’re trying to get to people who are actually on the road, broken down in their vehicles,” said David Crowhurst, AMA Roadside Calgary Fleet Supervisor.

Highways in the province have also been impacted by the heavy snowfall and there are a number of closures including:

  • Trans-Canada Highway from Lake Louise to Field
  • Icefields Parkway from Saskatchewan Crossing to Athabasca Falls

The city will call another snow route parking ban at 10:00 a.m. Saturday to clear priority two routes.

For the latest road conditions in Calgary, check the CTV Calgary Traffic Page HERE.

For updates on highway conditions, visit AMA Roads Reports and the DriveBC sites.

Download the CTV Calgary Sky Watch Weather App for real-time weather forecasts and video updates on conditions HERE.

Snowfall totals from the Sky Watch Weather Centre