Despite the lack of significant snow accumulation this winter, compared to last, City of Steinbach crews have been out clearing streets and boulevards.

Public Works Department Head Randy Reimer says, "The reason we're doing that is because with the December we had, we had some very mild temperatures with rain and then dipping down to the extreme cold we had a lot of ice conditions which we had to put a lot of sand down for."

Reimer notes, while they could get away with not clearing the snow accumulation, it's the high amount of sand which has prompted this work.

"By removing it now we get a lot of that sand off and we've had to put quite a bit more sand down this winter than we have in some of the past winters. And we're not through winter yet, we could get some heavy accumulations in March, there's always a possibility."

He says when crews are out working they ask drivers to be mindful.

"We try to keep intersections open so people can still get through but be mindful, there could be windrows and to use caution and drive slowly."

Reimer adds they are posting signs the day before to make drivers aware to not park on the road during cleaning days. He says they will continue to clear boulevards and streets over the next couple weeks.