The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo is hoping to educate residents about the new winter maintenance plan that starts when winter hits this year. Road plowing and other maintenance changes will affect many residents as the municipality switches to a rotating plowing schedule instead of what was previously used. On specific days street parking will be banned in each neighborhood, with a weekly schedule, and permanent no parking signs have already been ordered. According to Robert Billard, the road maintenance manager, “We wanted people to be aware of what the signs were about. The largest thing will be the communication with regards to the zones and having people comply with it.” The new practice will start in October and continue through April.

In the past the winter maintenance plan in the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo was much different. Snow which was located on residential roads was removed and trucked away periodically, approximately once or twice each year. The new winter maintenance plan passed the council vote last December, and it will continue the old strategy of clearing green spaces and boulevards by plowing the snow off to one side. There were information sessions held so that residents understood the new maintenance plan. Plans for weekly maintenance in months other than winter months were cancelled. Billard explained “Once those areas are swept up and cleaned up, after that happens there really isn’t a requirement to be there once a week … but we are going to try to coordinate the closures with the zones.”