While we don’t want to think about winter, the Highway Hotline is getting ready for the change in seasons by tweaking the terminology it uses to describe road conditions. The new terms to describe road conditions are bare, partly covered, covered, travel not recommended and closed. It’s also colour coded when you download the app.

The government in a news release says the updated language is also more consistent with neighbouring provinces, which it says will make using the Hotline easier for people traveling across western Canada. Highways Minister Lori Carr says the Highway Hotline is used millions of times throughout the year to help travelers plan ahead.

The colours you’ll see are black, yellow, pink, blue and red. White was removed because it didn’t show up well on the digital maps. The maps will continue to indicate poor visibility using a dotted line.

The new primary conditions include:
•Bare – Road appears black, means all wheels of a passenger vehicle are on a bare surface.
•Partly Covered – Road appears yellow, means two wheels of a passenger vehicle are on a snow or ice-covered surface.
•Covered – Road appears pink, means all wheels of the vehicle are on snow or ice.
•Travel Not Recommended – Road appears blue, means that visibility is less than 250 metres and could become impassable.
•Closed – Road appears red, means the highway is impassable.