Road crews hit the streets Monday to tackle come of the pesky windrows that have piled up over the last week.

The city says crews began removing the excess snow that’s been causing grief for Edmonton motorists from residential and collector bus routes early Monday morning.

According to the city, getting rid of those icy piles will increase lane width and help traffic flow a little more freely.

And it’s about time, says 60-year-old Edmonton power engineer Duncan McDonald, who’s urging officials to extend the windrow clearing to arterial roads

“If you go to the west end and drive down 118 or 107 Avenues — where the windrows are on both the centre and sides of the roads — you’ll be driving along in one lane and it just ends, no warning,” he said. “It’s absolutely terrifying, especially if you’re next to a big truck.”

The lifelong resident says he’s read the city’s windrow policy — which states that windrows should not infringe upon the roadway — and calls it a “joke”.

“Some policy, they’re definitely not following it,” he said, adding he believes the city spends the bare minimum on snow clearing in an effort to keep the budget as low as possible. “The roads out there are dangerous — you’re traveling on Yellowhead and three lanes suddenly become two — that’s not acceptable.”

Another growing concern for McDonald are the snowy drifts that sit each year on the city’s many bridges.

The windrows not only hinder traffic, he says, but eventually could compromise the integrity of some of the bridges’ structure.

“All that salt, ice and sand sits there and plugs up all the drains on the bridges and it back-flows into the bridge, eventually it eats it away,” he said. “They should be washing those bridges clean as much as possible.”

The city’s snow and ice control budget for 2013 is just over $50 million, up from $43 million in 2011.

Road crews do not remove windrows in neighbourhoods, but workers are required to clear them from street corners, handicapped parking stalls and school loading zones.

angelique.rodrigues@sunmedia.ca