Snow and Ice Control Program

Our priority for snow and ice control is public safety. That means keeping city roads drivable and safe so Red Deerians can get where they need to go throughout the winter.

We use a coloured route system to determine when we plow each road:

Route	Location	Trigger/Target
Purple	Hills, bridges, overpasses, high hazard locations and hospital access	Plow within 8 hours of 5 cm accumulation.
Red	Major arterial roads	Plow within 72 hours of 8 cm accumulation.
Blue	Downtown roads (Snow Zone D)	Plow and remove within 4 days of a 5-10 cm snow pack (30-40 cm accumulated snowfall). Plowing happens overnight (7 p.m. to 7 a.m.).
Green	Collectors, Transit Routes, and residential streets adjacent to schools	Plow and remove within 15 days of a 5-10 cm snow pack (30-40 cm accumulated snowfall).
Grey	Residential streets	Plow within 15 days of a 5-10 cm snow pack (30-40 cm accumulated snowfall) with windrows left on both sides of the street.
Orange	Industrial and commercial areas	Plow within 5 days of a 15 cm snow pack; plowing can start prior to the 15 cm trigger when it makes operational sense to do so.