Edmonton is looking to get ahead of snow and ice on city streets rather than reacting when hit with a snowfall, Andrew Grant, infrastructure operations supervisor with the city said Wednesday.

It used to be that when it snowed, the city would send out sanding trucks to spread sand and salt on the roads. Then once the snow let up, plows would clear the roads, he said.

Now, the city is using a combination of de-icing solutions, sand, salt, and plowing, depending on conditions, Grant said.

"We're looking at how much material we're putting out and trying to minimize the amount of abrasives that we're putting out there," Grant said. "Because sand and salt both have impacts on the environment."

This winter season, people will notice less sand being used, he said.

"So we're hoping they're seeing more plows out there physically removing the snow but we're really going to be focusing on getting back down to bare pavement immediately," Grant said.

The city is continuing this year with a pilot program testing the efficacy of a calcium chloride anti-icing solution.

Roads need to be dry and the temperature of the pavement has to be taken into account when considering if the solution will be effective, he said. The solution prevents the snow from sticking to the pavement and makes it easier to remove.

Although a corrosion inhibitor is added to the solution, people in the automotive and building industries are concerned about the corrosive effects on vehicles, roads and landscaping.

"We hear good and bad" from people where the solution is being used, he said.

"In the right temperatures, it shows that it has expedited our plowing processes by not having to make so many passes on a roadway and we can get our trucks to cover more inventory, quicker," Grant said.