City’s ‘never-ending’ battle with sanding continues as deep freeze set to end

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This article was published 23/01/2025 (296 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As the weather shifts from freezing Arctic air to warmer snowy temperatures over the next few days, Bill Campbell is sticking to a simple mantra to stay safe.

“Common sense and four-wheel drive,” he joked outside his truck after picking up groceries on McPhillips Street Thursday.

Campbell and other drivers have slipped and slid across Winnipeg streets over the past few days, as zig-zagging weather conditions have impacted the roads.

“They are (slippery). I mean, 12 hours can make a huge difference, the temperature comes up a bit, that’s another problem,” he said.

Winnipeg’s manager of street maintenance, Michael Cantor, said all hands are on deck right now sanding the roads — even more than once a day, if needed, after high winds and vehicles get through with it.

“It’s kind of a chase,” he said Thursday. “When you put sand on the street after a certain while, it could fly off the wheel path … so we go back to those locations.”

Over the last five days, 311 has received 128 calls about slippery road conditions. Cantor said sanding crews have been able to hit every priority one and priority two street in the city over the past few days, but patches of bare pavement resulted in dangerous black ice forming Wednesday.

The weather is forecast to jump to -3 C Friday — good news for road crews, Cantor said, as it gives them a brief window to apply salt to priority one routes to melt dangerous ice and, hopefully, freeze dry if the weather stays consistent.

“It’s a never-ending battle at the end of the day,” he said. “If you were to ask me, I would like the weather to be up to -7 C consistently, but that’s not what we get.”

Meanwhile, a coalition of organizations supporting seniors and people with disabilities is taking a grassroots approach to street cleaning awareness.

“It’s a never-ending battle at the end of the day.”–Michael Cantor

The “S(NO)W Plow Campaign” asks those traversing the city to snap photos of poorly-cleared sidewalks, inaccessible walkways and other impasses that make it harder for those with limited mobility to travel.

The photos can be uploaded either through the group’s social media page, sent to the Manitoba League of Persons with Disabilities via email or through a Google form.

The photos and details are shared publicly to inform others, and are sent to 311.

“We got together because we wanted to identify and share our concerns with the state of roads and sidewalks with snow plowing,” said David Kron from the Cerebral Palsy Association of Manitoba, one of the groups involved with the campaign.

“It doesn’t take much of a ridge or a patch of ice to make it impassable for folks with or without a disability.”

Kron uses a cane and, at times, a manual wheelchair. When the roads and sidewalks are icy, it can be impossible to get around.

“How many people fall and slip on the ice?” he said. “It’s treacherous, whether you have a disability or not.”

The project started last year, after a heavy snowfall in March resulted in treacherous road and sidewalk conditions. Kron credited Cantor, who he said invited some of the organizations behind S(NO)W Plow, to discuss the specifics behind the city’s plowing operations.

“We just want to be part of the solution,” he said. “We want to help make Winnipeg a more accessible, inclusive place so that folks can get out into the community.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca