So far it looks like there will be minimal spring road restrictions in the Estevan area this year. Due to a dry and mild winter, there is minimal moisture in the ground, which has resulted in many roads in the Rural Municipality (RM) of Estevan not requiring restrictions on the weight for the vehicles driving on them.
“Right now, we’ve got no snow and it’s been so dry and mild that there’s dust blowing off the roads,” said Kelly Lafrentz, reeve of the RM of Estevan. “Because of that, we’re having no road bans at this point, except for our oil surface roads and any new construction that was built last year.”
A press release from the RM of Estevan on March 8 stated that the only other kinds of roads placed under a road ban in the RM are chip seal roads.
Lafrentz said the aim of imposing a ban on oil surface roads and newly constructed roads was to keep traffic off their more vulnerable surfaces. He added that with the downturn in the oil and gas industries, there is less traffic on rural roads in the Estevan area, allowing for minimal road restrictions as spring approaches.
Billy Fowler, engineering services manager with the RM, said chip seal roads, including the ones on the way to Boundary Dam Park or Woodlawn Park, are meant for lighter traffic and require the protection of a ban because they are susceptible to damage in the spring, when they get soft with the rising temperatures.
Sometimes as spring approaches, weather and conditions can change. Lafrentz said that the situation with bans will only change if there is a dramatic change in weather and moisture. Conditions would need to be wet enough to pose the threat of damaging more roads. Fowler said the RM is going to pay attention to the upcoming weather and, “depending on how much snow or rain comes in the next couple of weeks, that will determine what we do with the road bans.”
“If it was just a sprinkling of rain, we wouldn’t change anything, but if we get a heavy, wet snow or something like that, (restrictions) would go on, because usually, by this time, they start coming on,” said Lafrentz. “Anyone who wants to carry on with plans on those roads will benefit from the lack of restrictions, but there isn’t a whole lot going on. Maybe, if some farmers want to haul some grain, it would be good for something like that.”
