Manitobans are digging out as the second day of a winter storm pounded the southern part of the province.
Snow clearing operations in the city and on the highways have kicked into high gear.
While most highways have reopened, motorists who spoke with CTV News said driving conditions remain treacherous in some areas.
The province announced Highway 1 between Headingley and the Saskatchewan border reopened just before 3 p.m. Wednesday – parts of the highway had been closed since Tuesday morning.
Highway 75 from the perimeter to the U.S. border has also reopened to traffic, according to the province.
Larry Halayko with Manitoba Infrastructure said the RCMP decided it was safe to open up the roads, but he cautioned visibility is still reduced on some highways.
Provincial snow clearing crews have been working steady for the past 48 hours, Halayko said.
Brad Bernshine drove into Winnipeg from St. Adolphe Wednesday morning despite the closure. He said Highway 75 was snow-packed and icy.
“It’s 10 minutes from the Perimeter so I’ll trek it,” Bernshine said. “I got my winter tires on so I’m good. You adjust to the road conditions. That’s the main concern out there, adapt your speed.”
Mechanic Ahmid Omer has been on several area highways since yesterday and he said conditions have been challenging.
“In certain spots it’s pretty bad,” Omer said. “Where there’s a bush closing the highway it gives you a better spot where there’s nothing there. In the open it’s drifted lots of places.”
The city of Winnipeg said a residential parking ban will go into effect start on Friday morning at 7 a.m. and that residents are encouraged to confirm their snow zone by contacting 311 or using the Know Your Zone app.
Streets maintenance manager Jim Berezowsky said so far snow clearing operations have been going well.
“We didn’t have a slow start,” Berezowsky said. “The operations commenced at 2:30 a.m. (Tuesday) with salt applications and we moved into a truck plowing operation at roughly 7 a.m. and we continued that operation through the night and into the morning and moved into a major grater plowing operation during the day.”
“You have to keep in mind this city has a large number of priority 1 and priority 2 road kilometres and so you’re not going to be at each road kilometre at the same time so in that case the action was initiated well before the snow accumulations were posing a hazard.”
The city said priority 1 sidewalks and active transportation trails next to priority streets are also being plowed.
The city said residential sidewalks will be cleared when crews move into a residential plowing operation.
