Rain brings slick conditions to Edmonton

Edmontonians woke up to slippery roads and sidewalks Wednesday morning after a spell of freezing rain overnight and into the morning left the city covered in a sheet of ice.

Across the city, pedestrians attempted to navigate the slick sidewalks without falling, busses were forced to slow down, and police and RCMP were responding to a spike in collisions.

Edmonton Transit busses were operating at least 10 minutes late, said spokeswoman Patricia Dickson.

“Bus drivers are professional. They know how to handle their buses,” she said. “But as the weather warms up things will settle down.”

The Edmonton Police Service responded to at least 30 collisions between 7 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, said spokeswoman Lisa Sobchyshyn, including a pileup near Campbell Road and 167th Avenue involving up to 15 vehicles, including a jack-knifed trailer hauled by a truck.

Motorists are advised to avoid the area.

A city bus got stuck at Fox Drive and Belgravia Road, and other multi-vehicle collisions have been reported.

Police say between 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. they've been dispatched to 136 property damage collisions, six of which involved minor injuries.

An estimate on the average number of dispatches police would normally receive in these cases would be 30% of what EPS has experienced Wednesday.

In Strathcona County, roads are “extremely poor” because of the overnight and morning rain freezing on roads, causing a number of collisions in both rural and urban areas, RCMP said.

Motorists there are advised to use caution on highways, RCMP said, because surfaces vary from ice-covered to wet throughout the county.

Sanding crews are also out on city streets to deal with conditions caused by the freezing rain. They're focusing on arterial routes, major intersections, bridges, overpasses, hills and bus routes.

Home and business owners can also pick up free sand at community leagues across the city to use on icy sidewalks.