The provincial government has announced plans to expand 24-hour snow clearing on some of the busiest routes across the province.

Currently, government says workers are only called in when conditions are bad.

They plan on hiring 50 new snowplow operators so that an overnight shift can be added to ensure work can be done all night long on certain routes between December and March.

Transportation Minister Barry Petten expects the expansion will cost nearly $3-million annually, and will start as soon as drivers are hired.

“We heard it loud and clear from the public actually. It’s something that, back in 2016 when this was cancelled, when I was opposition member and I was actually a transportation critic, it was something that I really was very vocal against,” he told reporters.

“You can’t put a cost on one person’s life, and for a savings of 1.9 million back in the day, I could never understand the rationale for that decision.”

Job postings looking for heavy equipment operators are already up. That, along with a full list of routes can be found online at VOCM dot com.

According to government the Most Travelled Routes include:

Avalon Region

Route 1 (TCH) — Logy Bay Road to Foxtrap (includes the Outer Ring Road)
Route 1 (TCH) – Foxtrap to Whitbourne
Route 2 (Pitts Memorial Drive/CBS Bypass/Peacekeeper’s Way) — New Gower Street to Seal Cove
Route 3A (Team Gushue Highway — TCH to Topsail Road
Route 75 (Veterans Memorial Highway) — TCH to Carbonear

Eastern Region

Route 1 (TCH) — Whitbourne to Clarenville

Central Region

Route 1 (TCH) — Gander to Grand Falls Windsor
Route 350 (Botwood Highway) — TCH to Botwood

Western Region

Route 1 (TCH) — Deer Lake to Stephenville (Exit 3 — Route 460, White’s Road)
Route 430 (Great Northern Peninsula Highway) — Deer Lake to Rocky Harbour (through Gros Morne National Park — Parks Canada Jurisdiction)
Route 450/450A (Lewin Parkway/Ring Road)
Route 460 (Port au Port Highway) — TCH to the Stephenville Cold Brook Depot