City crews working hard to ensure your safety on snow covered roads

November 23, 2010

Red Deer is dealing with some frigid temperatures this week and City road crews are hard at work plowing and sanding our streets.

“Following our snow and ice control policy, our priorities have been on clearing hills, bridges, high collision areas, hospital access routes and arterials,” said Jim Chase, Roads Superintendent. “The downtown area will receive a modified snow removal tonight. What this means is only the selected streets below will receive a snow removal due to some hazardous conditions starting to develop. At this time a full downtown removal will not be completed”.

Streets that will be cleared in the downtown area include:

• Ross Street from 46 Ave to 51 Ave.
• 49 Street from 51 Ave to 46 Ave.
• 49 Avenue from 42 St to 55 Street.
• Gaetz / 51 Avenue from 55 Street to 42 Street.

“No parking” signs will be put in place for all plowing and removal procedures 12 hours prior to the removal. Vehicles that remain parked on streets with “no parking” signs will be ticketed and towed. During the snow removal process citizens are reminded to keep a safe distance from snow removal equipment.

Winter driving requires different driving techniques. There are some things you can do to keep yourself safer on tough winter roads.

• Give yourself extra time to reach your destination.
• Reduce speed and turn on your headlights.
• Leave extra distance between you and the vehicle ahead of you to allow more time to stop.
• Make sure your windshield, back window, outside mirrors and all lights are free of dirt, snow, frost, etc.
• When road conditions are difficult, consider leaving your vehicle at home and use Red Deer Transit.
• Listen to local media for updated road conditions and information on snow and ice control operations.

Always remember to stay at least 20 meters behind snow removal equipment and sanding/plowing trucks and only pass when it is safe to do so.

For more information on winter driving and our snow and ice control program, visit www.reddeer.ca.

-end-

For more information, please contact:

Jim Chase, Roads Superintendent
Public Works
The City of Red Deer
403-342-8238