Dunedin contractors' efforts to keep as many of the city's roads open as possible meant "hundreds of hours" of work, Dunedin City Council roading maintenance engineer Peter Standring said yesterday.
Fulton Hogan employees worked in shifts operating three graders, six grit trucks, seven "broom trucks", or road sweepers, and one truck laying chemical de-icing agent calcium magnesium acetate.
"They've been putting in the extra hours," he said.
The contractors worked to keep main arterial and collector roads open. These included Stuart St, High St and Warrender St in the city, where drivers could "hook on" to get where they were going, Mr Standring said.
That did not mean every road could be kept open, but the idea was to do what was possible to keep a "web" of roads accessible.
Mr Standring also responded to a complaint to the Otago Daily Times that there was no evidence of any attempt to treat some roads on Otago Peninsula, Portsmouth Dr or the intersection of St Andrews and Cumberland Sts, which was "sheet ice" early yesterday.
Mr Standring said he would be "very surprised" if grit had not been laid in those areas.
Snow had packed down, and there was little that could be done until it melted and turned to slush, he said.
