Kitchener crews have hauled more than 3,100 loads of snow, 67% salt used
Posted Feb 4, 2026 05:00:00 AM.
Last Updated Feb 4, 2026 09:52:46 AM.
Road maintenance crews in Kitchener have had their hands full this winter season as a record-setting amount of snow has fallen on the city, and officials continue to search for solutions for the road salt shortage.
According to Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic, more than 3,100 truckloads of snow have been moved off the roads this season, a number that’s more than three times the amount of last year.
According to statistics from the University of Waterloo’s E.D. Soulis Weather Station, more than 200 cm of snow has fallen on Waterloo Region this winter, more than double the average and the most in the entire history of record-keeping at the station.
The snow-clearing season began early this year, with the first snowfall coming on Nov. 9.
Crews are having to change the way they operate as they respond to a road salt shortage that’s been present across Ontario.
In Kitchener, crews have already used 67 per cent of their road salt supply, according to Denise McGoldrick, general manager of Infrastructure Services.
Because of that shortage, crews have started using a sand-salt mixture on priority roads to combat ice build-up.
McGoldrick noted that salt is used on the roads even throughout the spring as the snowpack melts and turns into ice.
City of Kitchener staff are set to present council with a report on the challenges the city has faced this winter and how they can better overcome them in the future at a council meeting in June.
