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Sask. Highway Hotline gets new feature to help with winter driving

Drivers in Saskatchewan can now see if a road has been recently plowed, salted or sanded thanks to a new Highway Hotline feature.

Drivers can now see if road has been recently plowed, salted or sanded

Darla Ponace · CBC ·
A man sits at a desk monitoring highways on screens in front of him.
The Saskatchewan Highway Hotline has been operating for more then 50 years. (Kirk Fraser/CBC)

The Saskatchewan Highway Hotline has been operating for more then 50 years. Now, it has a new feature for drivers planning a road trip.

The new feature is called Track My Plow, and can be accessed through the highway hotline website or a phone app.

The province's snowplows have transmitters that track their locations, allowing the hotline site to show when and where there was recent road maintenance.

The website will also allow users to hover over a plow, click on it then scroll to zoom in on the route it has taken.

"The plows leave a trail of markers behind them," said Minister of Highways Lori Carr. "They tell you if your route has been treated yet and when.

"When you combine this information with our description of the road conditions, the review of your public forecast, you can leave armed with the information you need for your journey."

A woman sits in front of a computer monitoring the screen in front of her.
The Highway Hotline's newest feature is called Track My Plow. It will monitor where and when roads have been plowed, salted and sanded. (Kirk Fraser/CBC)

Carr said staff are working 24/7 to ensure travellers are informed.

She said that this new feature is a pilot project that she hopes the public will use before winter travel.

"We think it will be a game-changer," she said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Darla Ponace

Darla Ponace is a Saulteaux woman from Zagime Anishinabek First Nations. She started as an associate producer in the Indigenous Pathways program at CBC. She is currently working with CBC Saskatchewan as a reporter. You can email her at darla.ponace@cbc.ca with story ideas.

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