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WINNIPEG – The winter weather is taking its toll on Winnipeg drivers.

“I hit a patch of black ice and spun out, lost control and rolled the truck,” said James Anderson.

Others are dealing with built-up snow and brutal cold.

“My car, in the cold it broke down, as well, so it’s sitting at home waiting to get fixed,” said Kim Houlahan. She spent part of the day Tuesday waiting for her vehicle to get built-up ice and gravel removed from its wheel wells. It’s one of many vehicles being serviced at Kal Tire.

“(We’re seeing) loose front-end parts, alignments being put out of whack, tire pressure going down ’cause of ice chunks catching a sidewall or something like that,” said Dave Nielson, senior assistant manager at Kal Tire.

The shop is seeing plenty of problems, many from the ruts left on city streets after the last snowstorm dumped 15 centimetres of snow.

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“There will be a couple locations throughout the city where traffic got on while the snow was happening and the roads were a little bit wet. Those areas there will have a tighter compaction and be a little harder to peel off,” explained Jim Berezosky, city manager for street maintenance.

So far, the city has only plowed main routes. Starting Wednesday night they will scrape main roads and feeder streets down to the pavement. But there are no plans for a residential snow-clearing effort at this point.

City Coun. Jon Orlikow said he’s been hearing about the state of residential streets from his constituents.

“Everybody’s driving around — it’s time to visit family, see each other,” he said. “The last thing you want to be worried about is careening through an intersection getting schmucked.”

Driving on the rutted streets can take its toll on vehicles. Mechanics recommend paying attention to your vehicle.

“Problems will compound on each other and add more work. As stuff gets loose it makes it harder for that other part to do its job properly for sure,” said Neilson.

More snow is expected to fall Friday. After that, the city will determine whether a residential plow is necessary.