Navigating the streets of Moose Jaw became quite the challenge over the Christmas break with a mix of snow and freezing rain.

Streets and Roads Supervisor Jason Trzaskowski says surprisingly conditions are better than expected.

"I think the snow on top of the ice that we got helped things and we had crews out pretty late last night (Tues) and then pretty early this morning (Wed) and they seem to be getting a handle on it."

Trzaskowski says essentially, there are four priority plow routes for blading and four priority routes for sanding.

"When we get weather events like the one we had last night (Tues), we do expand the sanding," he explained. "We'll do a lot of the hills in the residential areas that we normally don't need to do, just to help traffic navigate some of the hills around town but other than that basically we stick to our lists. As time permits, and once we're caught up with the collectors [roads], arterials, and the priority routes, essentially then we'll expand into residential areas doing uncontrolled intersections and stop signs, etc."

The city does maintain certain sidewalks but for the most part, homeowners are responsible for the stretches in front of their property.

As for the snow that's been piling up, Trzaskowski says that's next up on the to-do list.

"Once we complete the priority plow, then we will go back and we will remove that snow. Our first priority is to make sure that the roadways are clear for travelling vehicles and then once we're caught up with that stuff, we go back and remove the windrows."