City asks for patience as crews tackle snow-clogged streets, sidewalks

Residents in the Halifax area shouldn't bother calling the city if they wake up to find their road or sidewalk hasn't been cleared yet.

As the municipality along with most of the rest of the province was being pounded by a blizzard on Monday, city snow crews were going full out focusing on keeping main streets and emergency routes clear.

Municipal spokeswoman Tiffany Chase said these type of weather conditions mean normal standards for snow clearing on streets and sidewalks do not apply. High winds were creating whiteout conditions and snow drifts as up to 70 centimetres of snow fell on the city.

Several days for fully accessible sidewalks

In an interview Monday night, Chase said the goal is to have main streets, emergency routes and transit routes in much better condition by Tuesday morning, something that will get easier as the snow stops.

"We'll attempt to provide those early one-lane access cuts on residential streets beginning overnight [Monday], but full-lane lift clearing will not take place on residential streets until Tuesday," she said.

Chase said it's the same situation with sidewalks and bus stops.

"We do not expect them to be fully accessible for several days," she said.

"Sidewalk clearing will not see progress until later in the day Tuesday."

On Monday evening the municipality delayed the start of bus service until 5 p.m on Tuesday to help with snow clearing.

Several hundred people were working Monday and into Tuesday trying to manage the snow, said Chase. That includes operations crews with about 200 pieces of snow-clearing equipment, staff monitoring the storm and people working in the municipality's emergency operations centre in Woodside.

Please be patient

Chase said if people see damage to streets or sidewalks they can contact 311, but she asked people not to call to ask when their road might be cleared.

"Just know that our crews are out there, we are going to get to all areas and hopefully provide that access back to residents as quickly as possible over the coming days."