A recent City of Medicine Hat exercise determined the prohibitive cost of clearing every street of snow. (CHAT News File Photo)

By Brian Konrad

Cost of clearing snow from all residential streets just not practical

Jan 25, 2023 | 11:09 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — Driving on residential roads in Medicine Hat in winter can test both the patience of the driver and the suspension of the vehicle.

Snow gets compacted into ice and the frequent freeze-thaw cycles make for a bumpy ride and lead many to ask why the city doesn’t clear the streets after every snow event.

Patrick Bohan is the director of assets with the city of Medicine Hat, and he says the priority after a snowfall is removing the snow from main roads first.

Bohan says a recent exercise in snow removal from Ross Glen Drive helped the city estimate how much extra it would cost to clear all residential roads.

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“We did a very rough calculation for doing a 4-k stretch along Ross Glen Drive. That took us 14 hours and it took 200 loads of snow in one shift, which cost us about $20,000. In extrapolating that sheer number of loads out of that one small section to the full 295 lane kilometres of residential roads, it’s just overwhelmingly impractical,” says Bohan.

The director says there are times when ice is so thick that the blades on the graders can’t get down to bare road.

He says we are fortunate that we get chinooks that do help melt the snow and clear the roads.