Rough ruts in the streets and slow sidewalk clearing strike fear and anger in Winnipeggers
City street maintenance manager calls road conditions 'unacceptable'
In his 45 years of teaching Winnipeggers how to drive, Paul Phangureh says 2022 has been one of the worst.
"Lots of snow. Roads are slippery. I haven't seen anything like this for many years," said Phangureh, who owns Pan Am Driving School.
His students — ranging from teenagers to the elderly, brand new drivers to new immigrants getting a Canadian licence — are all hesitant to get behind the wheel with the road conditions and high snow banks, he says.
"They're scared," he said. "Some of them will say, 'Can't I wait till spring?' I tell them, no, this is the best time to go. If you can drive in this, you're set for the whole year."
Manoeuvring in ruts is one of the hardest skills to master, Phangureh says. Severe ruts on residential streets have formed over the past few weeks, making driving on Winnipeg streets feel like off-roading.
WATCH | Deep ruts in Winnipeg's streets strike fear in new drivers:
But Phangureh has a tip. If you have space beside the rut, move out of it — one wheel in the track and one beside. But if you can't do that, Phangureh says, stay in the tracks: "There's no magic to this. Take it nice and easy."
Road conditions leading to more crashes, MPI
Province-wide, Manitoba Public Insurance reports there have been 26,423 crash claims so far this year — 80 per cent of them in Winnipeg. Last year, in the same time frame, that number was 15,536.
"A good portion of these collisions are directly related to road conditions — be that icy ruts, ice-polished intersections, high snow banks or white-out driving conditions conditions," MPI spokesperson Brian Smiley wrotre in an email.
The City of Winnipeg says it has received only three claims through 311 since November where the claimant blames road conditions for the crash, and one where a high snow bank caused a crash.
Finance committee chair Scott Gillingham says snow clearing in January alone cost the city about $14 million. The 2022 snow clearing budget is $35 million.
The city will run a residential snow plow operation starting Wednesday at 7 a.m. until Friday at 7 p.m.
"Sometimes, because it's scraping ice, contractors will have to do a few passes on them to remove [the ruts]," said Michael Cantor, the city's manager of street maintenance.
"This is not acceptable. There will be no ruts left on the streets once we finish the plow."
Cantor says the city has hired every available contractor to clear the snow and ice as quickly as possible. He says his department will put together a report on how snow clearing can improve in the city. That report will be put before councillors in July.
Sidewalk clearing forcing seniors to be 'prisoners'
According to Linda Lewis, one thing that isn't working is how the city clear sidewalks.
"I don't understand why we, the citizens of Winnipeg, have to put up with this," she said, standing in front of her West End home.
Cantor says many sidewalks haven't been touched by a plow in weeks, since crews have to keep clearing higher-priority roads. The city's snow clearing status website, as of Tuesday afternoon, showed many sections of sidewalk have yet to be cleared.
That's just doesn't work for Lewis.
"This couple here are elderly," she said, pointing to her neighbours. "I'm no spring chicken. There's a lot of elderly people around here. Some use walkers, some use canes. And we're held prisoners."
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