City of Saskatoon says plowed snow won't be completely hauled away until 2021

As crews continue to plow Saskatoon's roads, the city estimates it will take more than a month to actually remove all the piled-up snow from the street.

At a briefing on Friday, city administrators said an army of about 300 people were out plowing the city's streets, but it would likely be more than a month before the snow will be able to be picked up and taken to a snow removal site.

"We will be back to pick up the snow that's in the way," said city manager Jeff Jorgenson.

"We have to get mobility restored first. That's our first priority. And then we will we will take more time after that to come back and start moving that snow, because it can't stay there all winter."

It's estimated this weekend's blizzard dropped anywhere from 30 to 40 centimetres of snow on the Saskatoon area. This week, workers began on what's being billed as the largest snow removal project in the city's history.

Jorgenson did not have an official timeline for when the large rows of plowed ice and snow that have been left on the side of the road will be gone, but estimated it will take until next year before the project is completed.

"A lot of that removal, that picking up of the snow and taking it to snow or snow disposal sites, a lot of that is actually going to happen through the winter," he said.

"It will spill into 2021 by the time we get all of the snow removed, because it'll take some time to get it all gone."

Due to the long, protracted nature of the project, it's making it difficult to come up with an estimated final cost.

The snow removal reserve currently has $3.61 million in it. Administrators say the project will far exceed that number, as well as the annual 2020 snow clearing budget of just under $14 million, when taking earlier spending on snow operations into account.

"We have to figure out the total cost of this event," said Jorgenson. 

"We have to figure out how much is in 2020 and how much is in 2021."

Call for caution in school zones

The city plans on prioritizing hauling away snow in school zones to avoid blind spots and unsafe conditions for children entering and leaving schools.

"In the meantime, we ask that everyone to exercise extreme caution while navigating the school zones as the snow ridges may impact pick up or drop off as long as well as sight lines," said the city's general manager of transportation Terry Schmidt.

"Much work has been completed, but much work still remains to be done."

Administrators are also worried about children playing on rows and hills of plowed snow, especially digging tunnels through them.

"Anybody that sees kids playing in a large snow bank, you make sure you get them away from them," said Jorgenson. 

"It's not a case where somebody could get hurt. It's case where somebody could actually get killed."

On Friday, work was underway plowing residential streets in the Dundonald, Rosewood, Hampton Village, Lakeridge, Arbor Creek and Evergreen neighbourhoods.

Work was scheduled to start in six more neighborhoods: Wildwood, Buena Vista, Mayfair, Silverwood Heights, Erindale and Montgomery.