The Highway Hotline has been a helpful tool for Saskatchewanians when it comes to road travel and this past weekend; it was a well-used tool. The Highway Hotline provides the conditions of conditions are updated three times daily at 8 am, 10 am and 3 pm in the afternoon or whenever there are known changes that would affect driving conditions; conditions can change quite rapidly when the weather moves in, the Ministry of Highways can't be everywhere at once but they do update as those condition changes.

Ministry staff inspect highways regularly to determine if ploughing, salting, or sanding is needed. Equipment operators are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and snow ploughs are mobilised before, during and after a storm. For safety reasons crews will not begin work if visibility is reduced less than 200 meters, equipment already on the road may be removed when visibility is reduced to 100 meters, and that's for everyone's safety which is also when they decide whether the roads are not recommended for travel or closed.

"Travel not recommended is when visibility is less than 200 meters and/or the surface is icy and/or the highway is doubtful and/or maybe blocked, those are certainly the criteria we would use, primarily the viability factor but as you can see, there are many other things that come into play. A road closure comes into factor when that road is impassable, it would indicate an entire segment or multiple segments may be closed due to torturous conditions or a vehicle blocking the road," explained Steve Shaheen, Senior Communications Consultant with the Ministry of Highways and Infrastructure.

"Sometimes travel not recommended, is not put in place because the visibility is still good, but if there were a bunch of vehicles creating problems or blocking the road or in the ditch adjacent to the road, that would be something they would consider putting traffic not recommended or a road closure on. This time of the year, particularly towards the end of March, is when we can get those types of conditions, so our crews are out, always monitoring, they ensure that they have the equipment ready to roll and if ploughing is necessary, sanding or salting, they will take those materials out."

You can always stay up to date with the latest highway conditions by clicking on our Road Reports.