Residential snow removal proceeding on schedule
Since last Wednesday, the City has been removing snow from residential streets, improving our ability to safely navigate neighbourhoods. Piles of snow have been removed in five neighbourhoods.
“Snow crews have managed to stay true to the schedule and maintain progress as anticipated, removing snow on approximately one kilometre of streets, per crew, per day on average,” says Terry Schmidt, General Manager of Transportation & Construction. “Beginning today, we’re adding capacity in the form of newly contracted crews. We expect this will enable us to complete neighbourhood snow removal by the end of January.”
Priority streets are being addressed following the priority system, removing snow from the highest priority streets first then progressing through secondary streets (e.g. connecting streets). Since residential snow removal is taking place concurrently with removal on priority streets, it’s possible that some residential streets are cleared ahead of connectors. This means piles of snow may remain on some priority streets in a neighbourhood after the majority of snow from residential streets has been removed.
“This type of snow removal effort is unprecedented for our city and we expect snow crews to be removing snow across all 66 neighbourhoods and priority roadways into late January,” says Schmidt. “We’re seeing approximately 500 tandem loads of snow per day coming off residential streets and hauled to our snow storage sites.”
Residents will know when crews are coming to their neighbourhood when they see ‘No Parking’ signs go up along their street. The goal is to have these installed about 24 hours before the start of work. Similar to street sweeping, residents will need to move their vehicle off the street in advance of snow operations for the duration the sign is in place or their vehicle will be towed. This is to give equipment room to operate as well as to ensure the best result.
The progress of snow removal is slower than that of street sweeping, a similar maintenance program. Crews are striving to complete removal within 48 to 72 hours of the start date indicated on the signage.
Other ways residents can help:
- Steer clear of crews and equipment while work is underway.
- Keep kids off snow piles and from building tunnels through snow piles; the piles can collapse, and the weight of that snow could be very dangerous.
- Remove any rubber driveway/curb ramps before removal on your street.
Removal of snow on residential streets will not result in the same bare pavement conditions that we see on higher traffic priority streets. The end result in neighbourhoods will resemble a completed school zone with some non-hazardous snow piles remaining.
This neighbourhood clean-up is in response to the severe snow accumulation in November that left residential streets impassable. Neighbourhood snow management is not part of our city's standard operations. Existing levels of service for winter maintenance will apply to future snow events. In neighbourhoods, this means City snow crews are sent to local roads when ice rutting impedes mobility (reaches 15 cm or 6” in depth).