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Snow Clearing

Snow Clearing

The City of Thompson clears snow according to a priority system, outlined below. The priority plan puts the most importance on downtown roads and main neighbourhood arteries that all residents use, and that are critical for ensuring emergency services can move about the city efficiently.

PriorityRoads
Priority 1Thompson Drive
Princeton Drive
Westwood Drive
Cree Road

Access points for:
RCMP
Fire Hall
General Hospital
Sidewalks (Main arteries and access sidewalks)
Priority 2Additional main routes, including bus routes and school zones.
Priority 3Residential Streets
Sidewalks
Commercial Areas


Priority Road Pamphlet

Normally, when snowstorms are continuous or closely follow one another, crews will repeat priority areas before moving to the next area. Recent years have seen several record-breaking snowfalls and, at times, the priority system needs to be altered to ensure all roads get some degree of attention from snow-clearing crews.

Windrows and Driveway Clearing

Snow clearing using a grader generates windrows: long piles of broken, compact snow that is often difficult to move by hand. This is a normal part of the road-clearing process.

In residential areas, the City of Thompson clears these windrows from driveways as part of the snow clearing process. This service is not offered in every community.

During a normal snowfall, there is usually a few minutes of delay between when the grader creates a windrow and when the loader can come clear it. This is because loaders move and clear snow slower than the graders move through the streets. During heavier snowfalls, this delay may increase, as graders are instructed to move as quickly as possible to ensure emergency services can move throughout the city.

We cannot clear windrows from driveways if a vehicle is too close to the end of the driveway, as the risk of damaging a resident’s vehicle is too high. Vehicles must be moved up as far up one’s driveway as possible to enable windrow clearing.

Fee and Fine
Fee and Fine