City of Saskatoon working to shave down road ruts as drivers lodge complaints

Grading crews were busy Thursday evening and early Friday morning trying to clear deep ruts from the streets of Saskatoon.

Heavy snow over the last few months, combined with warm temperatures, have led to deep ruts in the city, particularly on residential side streets.

So far Aspen Ridge, Briarwood, Eastview, North Park and Nutana have been cleared, with another seven neighbourhoods ready to be cleared.

According to transportation and construction manager Terry Schmidt, crews have been out prioritizing streets to decide which should be graded first.

"We're completing the work based on those with the most severe ruts first," he said.

"We're also having to co-ordinate with the collection schedule for garbage and recycling because we want to do the work outside of the schedule."

The city said the next neighbourhoods to be cleared will be Evergreen, Kelsey-Woodlawn, Kensington, Lakewood, Richmond Heights, River Heights and Stonebridge.

While grader operators will drive around vehicles parked on the side of the road, the city is asking that drivers move their cars as graders drive through their neighbourhoods.

Road complaint

A woman lodged a complaint against the city after her car was hit twice in one day earlier this winter.

On Dec. 30, Sylviane Barclay said her car was hit in front of her home on 32nd Street W. She noticed the first damage at 12:30 p.m. CST, when she saw large dents on the back of her car, along with plastic moulding that had been ripped off her front door.

She called the city, which said an inspector would be sent out to assess whether the road should be plowed.

Then at 9:30 p.m. CST, her car was hit again, this time severely damaging her back bumper.

Barclay said vehicles losing control after hitting deep ruts on the road was to blame in both incidents.

"This fellow had slid sideways in his car," she said. 

"He lost control, had slid sideways and hit the back of my car and put a big hole in the bumper cover."

Barclay called the city, which immediately graded the street. 

She filed a claim with the city but was eventually denied. A letter from the city solicitor said that her claim had been rejected because the city does not regularly plow residential streets and because the city didn't know about the state of the road before the incidents.

The letter said it served as a denial of liability and that Barclay had one year to serve her statement of claim.

The city said it had not received a significant number of auto claims with respect to Saskatoon road conditions.

While she was skeptical that the city would pay for the damage, she isn't happy with the city's response.

"The letter sort of felt like he hadn't even read what I sent," she said.

"They did have knowledge of of the the first incident. They had time to react before the second incident."

Barclay is worried that her car, a 2007 VW Rabbit, would be written off if she made a claim to SGI. As a result, she plans to repair her car herself.