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City crews working to manage the snow and ice

Jan 21, 2019 | 3:57 PM

 

MEDICINE HAT– With the first snowfall of the new year coming down last week, workers for Municipal Works at the city of Medicine Hat have been back on the streets managing the snow and ice.

For snow, the city workers will start plowing snow from the roadway at 4:00 a.m. At 6:00 a.m they’ll start to plow the snow off sidewalks using their smaller sidewalk machines.

To provide traction for the drivers, the city uses mostly a granular materials that’s made of small angular rock chips. When the roads get a little icier, the city may use a mixture of sand and salt. For extreme conditions, such as freezing rain, the city may use a solution such as calcium chloride.

The calcium chloride solution is something that the city of Edmonton has been using more as of late, but they have been under plenty of scrutiny for it.

Many drivers believe that the solution can rust their cars, as well as damage the roads.

Jeremy Petryshyn, Operations Manager at Municipal Works at the city of Medicine Hat, says that they only use the solution on Medicine Hat roads when it’s necessary. They’ve been introducing the solution over the past five-years.

“We use it on select areas, like hills. It provides an effective melting agent to be able to provide safe roadways. It has some effects but any de-icing agent will, said Petryshyn, “any time you use any type of de-icing agent it can have effects on vehicles but we try to minimize the amount we use that material.”

This year the city will be reviewing all of their snow and ice management procedures.

“We will be looking at all the different materials we use and what’s the best, effective, efficient and environmentally friendly way that we can deliver that service here in Medicine Hat,” said Petryshyn.