The city of Lethbridge has introduced a new snow plow tracking tool, which it says will make route planning easier for residents. The online map shows where plow trucks are working around the city and what roads they have already been on and it will make use of new names given to the trucks by school children during a recent contest.
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“Residents can watch city operations in almost-real-time to help plan their commutes in the snowy weather,” said Joel Sanchez, director of infrastructure services. “It’s a great educational tool for the community which we hope to roll out for other city vehicles in the future.”
Residents are also reminded to watch for snow route activations along the phase one routes. When active, all vehicles must be moved out of parking lanes for plows to have space. The city says almost 1,500 reminders were distributed to non compliant vehicles on active snow routes so far this season and as of Feb. 1, parking tickets will be used to enforce the temporary parking restrictions.
“We hope that residents along phase one areas will use the snow plow tracker as a tool to plan the snow removal around their sidewalks and driveways,” said Juliane Ruck, transportation operations manager. “Being able to see where the plows are at and if they have completed a phase one area will help residents to time and coordinate snow removal contractors, helpers or their own shoveling for when we have completed plowing.”
