Sunday winter blast ices Calgary roads

Several centimetres of snow fell late Saturday night in Calgary and into Sunday, making conditions on the city's busiest road corridors slick.

On Deerfoot Trail, two separate crashes had traffic at a crawl.

A car had been involved in a collision in the middle lanes near 130th Ave SE, northbound, with tow trucks and emergency personnel directing traffic through the outside lanes.

A little further down, north of Southland Drive, a cargo-passenger van had left Deerfoot Trail, crashing into a chain link fence at the bottom of a ditch, rolling onto its side. No injuries were reported.

Chris McGeachy with the city's roads department says crews have been clearing priority routes such as Crowchild, Glenmore Trails, and Memorial Drive.

"The biggest factor for people's commutes right now is going to be temperature," he said.

"We do have crews working 24/7 through the winter, and they have been tackling this storm and now they're focused on major routes."

Road workers direct traffic near a traffic collision (CTV News Calgary/Tyson Fedor).

McGeachy says for drivers returning to work Monday to take extra time as it could be a slow go.

"Crews are out there applying material, but with those low windchills, it is reasonable to assume that we'll see some icy conditions on the road for the Monday commute," said McGeachy.

For snow removal worker Cisco Hayward, he has been blowing snow off sidewalks and condo complexes for three years.

"Once that snow falls, we get calls to get out and start working," he said.

"Being outside by yourself is awesome, I know I got bosses, but they're not here looking over my shoulder all the time, so it's a great job."

Cisco Hayward blows snow off a sidewalk on Sunday, March 5, 2023 (CTV News Calgary/Tyson Fedor).

Hayward says there can be challenges to the job, such as running out of juice for his leaf blower.

"You get all upset because you have to walk three blocks to go and get more gas, but it's a part of the job," Hayward said.

The city does not plan on implementing a snow route parking ban due to the latest snowfall.

"With the warm weather we've had in between these storms, we still have quite a bit of snow storage on the road, (and) no anticipation that we'll have to call a parking ban," McGeachy said.  

For more on the state of Calgary's roads, go to @yyctransport. For more about Calgary roads and highways around southern Alberta, go to @511Alberta.