Wolseley, West End residents rut-strated by city’s inaction on deep back-lane trenches

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/02/2025 (232 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Some West End and Wolseley residents are feeling stuck in a deep, dangerous and frozen rut because they say their back lanes haven’t been cleared yet this winter.

Louis Dufault took matters into his own hands Wednesday and chipped away at the ice with a pick axe so he doesn’t get hung up pulling into his parking pad.

Dufault has lived on Ingersoll Street for 55 years and never had an issue with ruts in the back lane until this winter. He says cars have been getting stuck in the trenches.

“It’s so slippery and deep, and if you get… stuck in the ruts then you’re really out of luck,” he said, adding that he hadn’t bothered to complain to the city even though he hadn’t seen a plow in the lane yet.

“It’s a little tough, I just hope they do something about it soon before there’s an accident,” he said.

The city reports received 299 calls about back-lane conditions since Jan. 1, down from 354 calls over the same period in 2024.

Lisa Campbell lives on a corner lot on Knappen Street in Wolseley with a lane beside and behind her home.

She said the ruts are so deep she can hear the wheels of passing vehicles scrape against them.

“It sounds like somebody’s dragging car parts or something,” she said Wednesday. “It’s enough to wake you up.”

Campbell said she fell because of the ruts a few years ago and, as a result, is extremely cautious around the exterior of her home now.

City policy on snow-clearing and ice control in the city’s approximately 930 kilometres of back lanes states plowing should take place after an inspection warrants a cleaning operation, usually following a five-centimetre snowfall accumulation or equivalent local drifting conditions.

Between snow events, the city inspects back lanes when it receives a complaint of impassable conditions and plows as required, but its current response time is six days.

Campbell said she has yet to see a plow come down her lane.

“It’s just wrecked back there,” she said.

Back lanes are normally maintained to a compacted snow surface, as opposed to bare pavement, the city’s policy says. An enhanced level of snow clearing is to be provided in back lanes for properties that have no front-street access.

Generally, the plowing of back lanes is done concurrently with priority 1 and 2 streets during residential snow removal, but prioritizing some lanes over others can be done to allow for garbage pickup.

During extended periods of mild weather the city may do additional clearing to reduce rutting, spokesperson Julie Dooley said in an email.

Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of council’s public works committee, said the city works on a complaint basis and it wouldn’t be cost-effective to proactively clear all back lanes.

“I’d like to think most people understand when there’s problem blockages, to call them in, and then the city will go out inspect it and do it,” she said. “It’s more cost-effective to target the complaints than do a whole city plow for back lanes.”

The city spends approximately $30 million to $40 million on snow removal and ice control annually, depending on weather conditions, and employs road inspectors who monitor areas for problem snow and ice.

The city proposed a pilot project in its 2025 budget to to raise the threshold to plow residential streets to 15 cm from 10 cm, starting in October, to keep costs under control.

Council’s public works committee voted unanimously in favour of a motion to scrap the pilot project in January after public backlash.

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca