Edmonton and area crews target major routes first in snow-removal effort

Snow plows on the roads in Edmonton on Dec. 16, 2025. (Evan Klippenstein/CTV News Edmonton)

When the snow stopped on Saturday, the cleanup started in Edmonton and the surrounding area.

Three days featuring significant snowfall – Tuesday (Christmas Eve), Friday (Boxing Day) and Saturday – hit the capital city region last week, followed by declarations of parking bans starting Sunday in several communities.

Edmonton’s city-wide ban started on Sunday as snow plows criss-crossed city streets in earnest, clearing arterial and collector roads, business improvement areas, bus routes and roads marked ‘seasonal no parking.’

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This Phase 1 ban is slated to last three-to-four days, depending on weather conditions.

Edmonton

City crews tackled roads deemed ‘high priority’ first, clearing them within 24 hours after the snow stopped falling on Saturday morning.

These roads include Whitemud Drive, Yellowhead Trail, Wayne Gretzky Drive, Groat Road, River Valley Road, the High Level Bridge portion of 109 Street, Walterdale Hill, Queen Elizabeth Park Road, Whyte Avenue/Sherwood Park Freeway, Argyll Road/63 Avenue, the south side’s 99 Street/Parsons Road, 97 Street on the north side from 137 Avenue to Anthony Henday Drive, Stony Plain Road and 100 Avenue from 170 Street to 231 Street, Terwillegar Drive and 23 Avenue from Terwillegar Drive to Calgary Trail.

Crews then moved to hundreds of Priority 2 roads that are slated to be cleared in five days, Priority 3 roads in six days and Priority 4 roads in 10 days.

Via the province, several private contractors are responsible for road maintenance on Anthony Henday Drive, including Carmacks (northwest portion), Volker Stevin (northeast) and Lafarge (southwest and southeast).

• Edmonton parking ban to begin Sunday morning

Sherwood Park

Major thoroughfares Baseline Road and Wye Road, and arterial road Sherwood Drive, are the first priority of Strathcona County road maintenance crews after a snowfall in this urban area east of Edmonton. They aim to clear them within 12 hours after an accumulation of two to five centimetres of snow stops.

Minor arterials in the hamlet of 76,000 people come next and are cleared within 12 hours of five-to-seven centimetres of snow have accumulated and once Priority 1 roads have been cleared. These include Clover Bar Road/Range Road 234, Granada Boulevard, Broadmoor Boulevard, Lakeland Drive, Emerald Drive and several roads in various business districts.

School drop zones are cleared within 72 hours of five-to-seven centimetres of snow have accumulated, followed by dozens of collector roads within six days of the accumulation of 15 centimetres of snow.

Residential streets here are considered Priority 4 roads when it comes to clearing them. Strathcona County crews clear them within 10 days of an accumulation of seven centimetres of compacted snow.

Private contractors hired by the province maintain Anthony Henday Drive (Volker Stevin), Highway 16 (Volker Stevin/Ledcor) and Highway 21 (Ledcor) at Sherwood Park in the winter.

St. Albert

In this city of 73,000 immediately northwest of Edmonton, crews plow and sand major roads St. Albert Trail and Ray Gibbons Drive as well as arterial roads including Giroux Road/Boudreau Road, McKenney Avenue/Bellerose Drive, Herbert Road/Gervais Road, Campbell Road, Sir Winston Churchill Avenue, Levasseur Road and Poirier Avenue within eight hours of two-to-five centimetres of snow falling.

Crews then move to several collector and commercial roads within 16 hours of such snowfall, to rural roads within 24 hours, and to downtown streets within 48 hours of five-to-10 centimetres having fallen.

They usually remove snow from St. Albert collector roads after 20-to-30 centimetres of snow have accumulated and aim to complete removal in five days. Removal of snow from residential roads is usually done once there’s a snow pack of six-to-nine centimetres in driving lanes, with an estimated time for removal of 10-to-12 days.

Spruce Grove

Crews in this city of 43,000 about 10 kilometres west of Edmonton make the stretch of Highway 16A that runs through it their first priority for snow removal.

Arterial roads including Grove Drive, Century Road, Calahoo Road and Jennifer Heil Way come next, followed by emergency access routes at the south end of King Street, snow routes and collector roads, and the streets in the city centre.

Commercial and industrial roads follow, with residential streets and alleys at the bottom of the priority list.

The city says crews typically remove snow from snow routes when snow reaches a depth of five centimetres, and from residential streets once it reaches a depth of 22 centimetres and once higher-priority roads have been acceptably cleared.

Leduc

Crews in the city of 39,000 next to the Edmonton International Airport start plowing major roads after two- to-five centimetres of snow has accumulated.

As road conditions become slippery, sanding is applied to hazardous locations such as intersections, curves, railway crossings and school/pedestrian crosswalks. Snow plowing will commence on major roadways after an accumulation of two-to-five centimetres.

Plowing priority begins with arterial roads once there is two-to-five centimetres of compacted snow on them followed by secondary roads once there is five-to-10 centimetres of compacted snow.

Snow removal priority starts with the downtown commercial area (five centimetres) and is followed by the rest of the downtown core (seven-to-10 centimetres), collector roads (seven-to-10 centimetres) and residential streets (15 centimetres).

Fort Saskatchewan

Crews prioritize the two highways – Nos. 15 and 21 – in the city of 30,000 immediately northeast of Edmonton, aiming to finish clearing them six-to-eight hours after a snowfall ends.

They’re followed by arterial roads (12-16 hours), collector roads/main streets (30-40 hours once arterials are done), industrial roads and the central business district, residential streets and lanes.

Arterial roads include 94 Avenue, 99 Avenue, 101 Street, Westpark Drive, Westpark Boulevard, Wilshire Boulevard and Southfort Drive.

The city says crews will clear snow from roads in residential areas after work in higher priority roads has been finished and when the thickness of compacted snow is 7.5 centimetres.

Fort Saskatchewan had already started clearing residential streets a week ago following significant snowfalls.

Beaumont

The city of 25,000 immediately south of Edmonton east of Highway 2 and the Nisku industrial area prioritizes clearing snow first from the busiest arterial and collector roads, including 50 Street and 50 Avenue.

Crews start work to clear snow from roads once five centimetres has fallen or if drifting is significant.

They move on to work on residential through roads once work on arterials and collectors has been completed. They clear them once a minimum of 15 centimetres of snowpack is measured from the centre of the road. Crews work on residential non-through roads and cul-de-sacs once there is 20 centimetres of snowpack.