Saint John snow crews battle to keep streets clear

The city of Saint John is battling to keep up with snow removal and clearing. Crews are trying to keep ahead of Saturday's big snowfall, but are expecting their efforts to be hampered by another storm on Monday. 

Crews have been working 16-hour days to keep streets cleared for emergency vehicles. As the snow piles grow higher, the city is turning its attention to snow removal. That is going to be difficult, says Kevin Rice, commissioner of municipal operations for the city.  

"All we can do right now is push back snow," he said. "To get into a full snow removal operation right now is not possible just for the sheer fact that we have a number of streets that we still have to push back snow on."

Rice says in addition to snow clearing, crews need to cut ice and clear catch basins. With another storm on its way, crews will have to concentrate on keeping streets from getting choked.

Staff are drafting a snow removal plan that could begin as early as Wednesday. 

"That plan will be to bring all of our resources and divisions together to start a focused effort on the south central peninsula area," Rice said. 

For now, Rice says crews are able to keep up. 

"When you get into an emergency situation is when there's more streets that need to be cleared than we have the resources to do, in a timely manner, to provide emergency access. I don't think we're there yet," he said Sunday. 

Staff won't know the effect the snow clearing will have on the city's budget for several months.