Road crews clean up one mess, prepare for another

Island road crews are trying to get all the snow cleared Wednesday before the next bout of bad weather arrives on Thursday.

About 25 centimetres of snow fell in parts of P.E.I. Wednesday, and up to 10 centimetres more as well as 20 to 30 millilitres of rain is forecast for Thursday.

"We had the plows out early this morning and they have cleaned everything up. Right now they're just doing some slush runs," Darren Chaisson, P.E.I.'s director of highway maintenance, said Wednesday afternoon.

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Wet snow takes longer to clean up

Paul Johnston, public works manager for the City of Charlottetown, said city plows will still be out Wednesday night clearing roads and parking lots. The wet snow, and higher-than-forecast accumulation, takes longer to clean up, he said.

The shoulders and ground isn't frozen yet so our operators do try to be careful not cause any damage and that slows them down a little, as well. Paul Johnston

"The shoulders and ground isn't frozen yet so our operators do try to be careful not cause any damage and that slows them down a little, as well," he said.

Motorists are asked to give salt trucks a little extra room.

Johnston also said in areas without curbs, the plows are trying to wing back the snow over time just to create the storage space." Plow markers should be placed about a metre off the asphalt in uncurbed areas, he said.

Trees, branches on roads

The province is still cleaning up trees and branches that fell on the road from the wind storm earlier in the week.

"We'll see what [Thursday] brings," Chaisson said.

"We could get up to 30 millimetres of rain so that can cause a lot of issues, especially if we get some snow ahead of that. We'll be cleaning up catch basins and culverts just making sure that the water can get away."

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