City provides residents sidewalk sand ahead of winter conditions. Bob Schneider/CHAT News

By Jayk Sterkenburg

In the community

City of Medicine Hat kicks off free sidewalk sand program ahead of winter months

Nov 14, 2024 | 12:12 PM

Winter has yet to arrive in Medicine Hat this season but that doesn’t mean the city isn’t prepared for the snow to come.

It is the second year that the city is implementing its sand box strategy, conducted by Snow and Ice Control, offering residents a way to maintain their neighborhood sidewalks.

The city has provided several large boxes around various neighborhoods that are filled with sand available to the public to utilize during winter conditions.

Jami Motz, operations superintendent with Municipal Works, said the sand is free but not necessarily a free-for-all.

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“The sand is free to residents and it’s available on a first-come, first-served basis. Residents need to bring a shovel and their own container,” she said.

“And we ask that residents only take one container per visit and limit it to five gallons,” she added.

For those that need reminding, or perhaps are experiencing their first winter this year, bylaw states that a sidewalk in front of a resident’s house must be cleared of snow within 24 hours.

Motz said that the sand provided around the city is intended for sidewalk use exclusively, as it does not contain infrastructure damaging salts.

If residents come across a box that needs to be refilled, Motz encourages them to reach out to Municipal Works through the number listed on the box.

“We just tried to spread out the sandboxes across the community just so that they’d be accessible for everyone. Obviously, we can’t get into every community, but we hope that we did place them in areas that will get good use out of them,” Motz said.

For the full list of locations where the big yellow sand boxes are located, visit the map on the city of Medicine Hat’s website.