Government announces return to 24-hour snow clearing, opposition says this is not new

    Friday, 21 November 2025 06:00

    By Tonya Organ

    The search has already started to hire operators for an overnight shift at each of the province’s highway depots.

    Government announced this week that 24-hour snow clearing is being brought back, meaning snowplows will be working around the clock from December to March. The search has already started to hire operators for an overnight shift at each of the province’s highway depots. As well, the delivery of 40 plus snow plows is expected in the coming months. 

    The news is not sitting well with the opposition’s Transportation critic, Jamie Korab, who says this is not news at all. He says there has been 24 hour snow clearing but now, staff will be at the depot instead of being called in when needed.Korab says while government is saying this is for 14 routes there are 392 snow plow routes in NL and this does nothing for rural and remote areas. Korab says this  change will cost $3M versus the $1.9M it would have cost back in 2016. 

    Meanwhile, Transportation Minister Barry Petten says the Liberals cut 24 hour snow clearing in 2016 as a means to save money. He says plans are in the works to build on that and add to that list after doing an analysis of all the routes. Petten says the new snow plows coming will be in place throughout the province where they are needed the most. He says with operators on hand at depots, 24-7, it means much faster response times than calling them from home to come in to work. 

     

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