Ice-blocked culverts keep P.E.I. road crews busy on Monday

P.E.I.'s road crews struggled to clear ditches and culverts of ice on Monday as theblockages are forcedwater onto roads and highways.

The province hadall available crews out to deal with the many problem areas. Heavy rain overnight combined with the flash freeze on the weekend are being blamed for the problem.

The Department of Transportation saidit is manageable, but expectedcrews to be busy all day.

Islanders can also expect a big temperature swing Monday and overnight into Tuesday.

The temperaturereached around 10 C, but it will fall to freezing in the evening, with showers flipping over to flurries. The forecast is for a drop to -11 C by Tuesday morning, which will make for more icy conditions on the morning commute.

The rain throughout the day made it tough to sand sidewalksandfor salt to stay on roads. The province saidconditions got better as the day went on.

The province started digging out ditches last week but the extreme temperaturescreated problems.

"We've seen a lot of changing in temperatures so we saw a lot of flash freezes, that's where we see the ditches being full and culverts being full," said the Department of Transportation'sStephenSzwarc."It's very, very busy, our dispatch office isreceivingmany, many calls, it hasn't stopped yet."

Road workers were able to remove many of theice jams in ditches throughout the day.

Transportation officials are reminding people to slow down and watch for water andice on the road.

The City of Charlottetown and the provincesaidthey will have crews out working throughout the night to monitor conditions.

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