News Releases

For Immediate Release:  April 02, 2014

On Thursday, April 3, between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m., SaskPower is planning a power outage that will affect many areas of northeast Saskatoon as well as Martensville and Warman.

Areas east of Idylwyld Drive and Louis Riel Trail and north of Circle Drive, including River Heights, Lawson Heights, Silverwood, North Industrial, Hudson Bay Industrial, and Marquis Industrial will be without power for approximately three hours starting at 3 a.m. Thursday morning.  The anticipated total outage area includes the City of Martensville and the City of Warman and rural communities east of Highway 12 to the South Saskatchewan River. 

SaskPower will be turning off the power to this area for necessary system improvements, and anticipates that power will be restored by 6 a.m. Thursday morning. If you have questions about the planned outage, please call the SaskPower Outage Centre at 306-310-2220.

For more City of Saskatoon Public Service Announcements, News Releases,  Traffic Detours and Service Alerts, visit www.saskatoon.ca or connect with the City of Saskatoon on Twitter and Facebook.

Starting at 9:30 a.m. on April 2, 2014 there will be various lane restrictions along the Idylwyld Freeway while Saskatoon Light & Power crews work on street light repairs: 

Wednesday, April 2 – southbound curb lane from Senator Sid Buckwold Bridge to the 8th Street off ramp will be closed. 

Thursday, April 3 - southbound curb lane from the 8th Street overpass to the Taylor Street exit ramp will be closed. 

To minimize the impact to traffic the work has been scheduled to take place from 9:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. each day. The work is expected to take two days to complete, weather permitting and barring any unforeseen circumstances.

Know before you go!  Find up-to-date Traffic Detour information on our website at www.saskatoon.ca and follow us on Twitter, Facebook or our City Blog.

 

The City of Saskatoon Emergency Measures Organization (EMO) today launched NotifyNOW, a new mass notification system. It means Saskatoon residents can receive information via direct text, voice mail, and e-mail messages in emergency situations that could affect them or their property.

“NotifyNOW will provide the EMO with the capacity to reach tens of thousands of residents within seconds of an emergency occurring in Saskatoon,” says Mayor Donald Atchison. “Public safety and security are a fundamental priority. This move is in line with City Council’s strategic goals of Continuous Improvement and Quality of Life, making Saskatoon a great place to live.”

An emergency could include any situation in which residents would be required to take some form of precautionary action as a result of a major blizzard, tornado warning, plane crash, hazardous goods spill, etc.

A past example of when NotifyNOW could have been helpful is the 2007 blizzard which ground the city to a halt, stranding motorists in their vehicles for several hours.

“With NotifyNOW, we would have been able to contact many people on their cell phones,” says Fire Chief Dan Paulsen. “We could have provided them with important safety messages and assured them that crews were working to locate them.” 

To create its contact database, the EMO purchased the phone numbers listed in the 2013-2014 Saskatoon SaskTel Phonebook. This database will be used only in emergency situations. Residents who do not have a phone number listed in this phonebook, or who wish to customize how they receive messages, can sign up on the EMO’s website.

Throughout the month of April, the EMO will run a promotional campaign to encourage residents to log in to NotifyNOW, check to see if they are already entered into the system, customize their options, or sign up if need be.  In May, the EMO will run a city-wide test during Emergency Preparedness week.  More details regarding the system test will be available soon.

Looking forward, the City plans to build on the benefits the system provides in other ways. By late spring 2014, residents will have the option to receive messages via NotifyNOW regarding service disruptions such as power outages and water main breaks occurring in their area. The notifications will complement the City’s existing communication tools which include the City’s online Service Alerts, News Releases, Public Service Announcements, and social media posts.

For more information, or to sign-up to receive notifications, please click here.

 

Attending Gardenscape at Prairieland Park this weekend? Come and visit the City of Saskatoon at booth 406 to register for the Green Cart program, a convenient and cost-effective way for you to dispose of yard waste without sending it to the landfill. Everyone who stops by can enter to win compost and mulch, and learn about other environmental initiatives you can get involved with.

 The green cart program is available to residents who receive black cart garbage collection and runs from May to November.  Registration is required to participate in the convenient curbside pick-up service program and the cost is $55 per household. The service includes bi-weekly pickup of your unbagged leaves, grass clippings, and non-woody yard vegetation.

 A healthy environment is essential to a healthy community, now and in the future. The City of Saskatoon demonstrates environmental leadership through outreach, partnerships, and community programs that help Saskatoon thrive in harmony with its natural environment, and conserve resources.

For more information and to register, visit us at Gardenscape this Friday, Saturday or Sunday, or http://saskatoonenvirostore.ca/leaves-and-grass-bin.

For more City of Saskatoon Public Service Announcements, News Releases, Traffic Detours and Service Alerts, visit www.saskatoon.ca or connect with the City of Saskatoon on Twitter and Facebook from the links at saskatoon.ca.

For immediate release: March 28, 2014

Hundreds of people are using their mobile devices and desktops to help us find potholes on major streets around the city.  Since its launch March 17, there have been 469 trouble locations reported by residents in all areas of the city using the City’s Report a Pothole interactive map.  While we aren’t into the Spring Pothole Blitz yet, we’ve repaired 247 of the larger reported pothole on major streets, plus hundreds of others!

“While we want people to call Public Works Customer Service to report emergency locations, there are definitely fewer calls for regular pothole reports than three weeks ago before we launched the tool,” says Pat Hyde, Director of Public Works.  “It’s difficult to track the exact number of potholes we repair, but our initial observation is that the online reports represent about 10 per cent of the actual potholes that are out there.”

City crews have been repairing potholes in the driving lane of the Priority 1 & 2 streets since the snow started melting with a temporary cold mix asphalt to prevent damage to vehicles and for safety.  The cold mix is a semi-permanent patching material that can be used in temperatures above -10 degrees Celsius (with wind chill) even where moisture exists.  The preferred permanent patching material is an hot mix asphalt, which is not available from our suppliers until the warm weather is sustained and overnight lows are above zero. 

Approximately 40 per cent of the reported locations on the map are excavation locations from completed City or private underground utility work.  These are known as utility cuts and have a temporary gravel/recycled asphalt cover until they can be properly paved in the summer.  Those on Priority 1, 2 and 3 streets are maintained daily and remaining utility cuts are monitored on a less frequent basis and as residents call in reports about issues.  While we are monitoring and re-grading these sites regularly, we will be leaving these dots red on the Report a Pothole map until they are permanently patched.  

Once a pothole is reported on the map, an inspector checks it out and rates it on the following:

1. Severe/emergency: deep and larger than a tire with potential for damage,
2. Requires repair: large in driving lane of Priority 1 or 2 street, or 
3. Can wait for Spring Blitz: small to medium, or outside of driving lanes.  

Severe and emergency locations are addressed immediately by the nearest pothole patching unit.  Large potholes in the driving lane of priority 1 and 2 streets will be scheduled for repair the next day.  The inspector, along with area supervisors and crews, is also on the look-out for unreported severe/emergency potholes.  The reported potholes, represented by red dots on the map, are updated to green dots at the end of the day they are repaired.

“Once the hot mix asphalt is available into the first two weeks of April, the Spring Pothole Blitz will begin and every size of pothole will be repaired on high-traffic, collector and arterial streets,” says Hyde.  “Potholes on residential and other streets will be addressed during the summer pothole program, unless they are determined to be severe requiring attention sooner.” 

Please report severe/emergency locations to Customer Service at 306-975-2476 so we can fix them as quickly as possible.  For more information about the pothole and utility cut programs, visit saskatoon.ca and select “P” for Potholes. 

For more City of Saskatoon Public Service Announcements, News Releases, Traffic Detours and Service Alerts, visit www.saskatoon.ca/go/traffic. You can also follow us on Twitter @cityofsaskatoon and with #betterroads and like Saskatoon City News on Facebook.