More than 300 crashes reported since start of snowfall on Tuesday

A vehicle that was involved in a crash sits on a tow truck in front of one of Edmonton's collision reporting centres on Jan. 10, 2024. (CTV News Edmonton / David Ewasuk)

Hundreds of crashes have happened since the start of Edmonton's first major snowfall Tuesday morning. 

On Tuesday, 227 people reported a crash to Accident Support Services International Ltd. (ASSI), which runs the city's collision reporting centres. Twenty-eight vehicles needed towing. 

Of those 227, 49 reported an injury.

As of noon on Wednesday, 73 crashes were reported to the centres, including a three-vehicle crash in the northbound lanes of Anthony Henday Drive at Hayter Road around 7 a.m., which caused a backlog during the morning commute. 

"The centres are going to be getting busier and busier," said Stephanie Greening, ASSI's Western Canada operations manager. "But we've done some good improvements over the last like six months to kind of prepare for this.

"We've added a queue system so that way citizens can go online and kind of review how long they're going to be waiting and have some expectations for when they decide to come report."

City snow-clearing crews are working on Edmonton's priority network, which includes Anthony Henday Drive and Whitemud Drive. Under the city's snow-clearing program, the priority network is to be cleared within five days. 

The city asked drivers to slow down around snow-clearing equipment. 

CTV Edmonton's Josh Classen expects only two more centimetres of snow throughout Wednesday.