SASKATOON -- Saskatoon City Council will look at removing snow piles from residential streets when it meets next week.

On Monday, council will discuss a plan that would see up to five contractor crews be initially assigned to the local roadway snow removal initiative, which is targeted for completion by the end of January 2021.

“This is the largest response to a snow event in the City’s history,” Terry Schmidt, general manager of transportation and construction, said in a news release.

“This massive accumulation of snow means it’s necessary for us to respond with a neighbourhood clean-up effort that is unprecedented.”

The work includes the removal of snow ridges and piles on both sides of local roads along lot fronts and at intersections, adjacent to fire hydrants and in the bulbs of cul-de-sacs.

“Since neighbourhood snow removal is a more involved process, and something new for our city, it's difficult to predict how much time it will take to move through the neighbourhoods,” Schmidt said in the release.

“We should start to have an idea of the timeline as we move through the first neighbourhoods, and then will begin estimating the schedule and posting it online.”