Discussions

Planning to drive to Winnipeg tomorrow morning Tuesday. Are road crews on top of it ?  
 
Any road updates through the day will be very much appreciated

http://www.manitoba511.ca/en/

Planning on heading in later today... I know the 511 is helpful but if someone has actually driven/seen it for themselves, that's the best update to have.  
 
Thanks, Drive safe!

I decided to cancel. Very bad in Wpg as well.  
 
Always better safe than sorry.  
 
Maybe I'll wash the walls or binge TV

I will use 511 over someone's opinion. What I like is the camera views. I will see how bad they look like. I have people who would say not to venture out yet highways have just blowing snow. People have different comfort levels of winter driving. Me, will drive in almost white out conditions if I have to. Doesn't bother me at all.

I'm the opposite. Manitoba 511 is absolutely horrendous for updates. Often time roads are neglected for days without updates. After a significant snow system like just passed thru last night/ today even the #1 highway had no updates this morning when I went to leave at 6:30am with the last being before 8pm last night, other roads such as #10 and #2 showed bare and clear because there was no updates since 7am sun morning. Manitoba government has let our road safety really take a back burner to other issues. You look at other provinces such as sask/alberta they are updated very frequently throughout the day. Alberta's even indicated in real time where the snow plows are and which direction of the highway they are travelling.  
 
Time to get the folks in the highways dept some funding so they can get out and do the job they want to be doing and making our roadways safer.

Just drove Brandon to Portage. Blowing snow across the highway, visibility poor at most times. The passing lane has some big drifts in it. Some icy sections. If you have to head out today like I did, take it slow!

Well, it's certainly not a new problem. The website has always been updated "as conditions are observed" i.e. when someone from highways are travelling down there and reports the conditions. There is no full-time reporting, and if they're not updated recently it's likely because there's no change from the last update OR there's no one cruising the highways to make reports (i.e. it's the middle of the night).  
 
Incidently, both SK and AB have disclaimers on their websites similar to MB when it comes to highway conditions:  
 
SK: Information is not necessarily updated 24 hours a day and may not be completely current at any specific point in time, as highway conditions can change rapidly due to weather, flooding, forest fires or other events. (https://hotline.gov.sk.ca/map.html)  
 
AB: The Government of Alberta does not necessarily provide hour by hour updates of all highway conditions. Because weather, road and traffic conditions change rapidly, drivers are in the best position to perceive such conditions and adjust their driving accordingly. (https://511.alberta.ca/about/about)  
 
 
OP: the roads are not great today, and there's more snow in the forecast for tomorrow. Unless you're very comfortable driving in all sorts of weather, it might be wise to delay your travels, or at least make sure you're traveling in daylight.  
 
edit to add: I see now that you cancelled. My bad.  
 
Edited by Abbysmum, 2019-02-04 15:03:57

Your right in a sense it's not a new problem, over the last number of years. There was a time year in the past decade and beyond where you would see the plows out with the lightest dusting of snow. While some may deem it impractical I would take them being paid to do a job that isnt necessarily needed so that they are for sure out when the real snow flies as opposed to letting snow sit all night until they come on shift early morning to clear things up.  
 
Also the disclaimers are irrelevant to what I was talking about. Travelling frequently between the three provinces manitoba is so far behind the others in terms of their snow clearing programs.

Considering Alberta has 4 times the population and is a more money rich province I think we are doing alright with what we have. Alberta spends over double I think it was in highway maintenance vs Manitoba. Road clearing is done by a private company. With heavy haulers running all different directions they have taken a vested interest in keeping a high tech 511 system. Our major route is good old Hwy 1 running from border to border. I don't see how Sasks system is better as I have driven many times in southern Sask and the roads have been horrible. I peg them the same as Manitoba.