The City of Toronto says it has begun a phased approach to remove the more than 50 centimetres of snow that has fallen across the city over the last 10 days.
Officials say crews, which have been working 24/7 to clear snow from roads and sidewalks since last Wednesday, are now transitioning to snow removal operations which involve over 450 dump trucks transporting the mounds of snow to one of the five designated storage sites.
However, officials say snow removal is expected to take up to three weeks.
“Snow removal is a pretty slow-moving operation,” explained Barbara Gray, the General Manager of Transportation Services. “Clearing a kilometre of local residential road can be completed in five to 10 minutes with a plow, a snow removal operation on that same one kilometre can take about 10 hours.”
Snow removal is being prioritized on main street roads and sidewalks with transit routes, hospitals and emergency services stations, as well as roads with limited space for snow storage.
The last time the City conducted snow removal on this scale was January 2022 when more than 180,000 tonnes of snow were cleared. This time around, City officials say they have enhanced its winter snow removal operations with additional snow removal equipment and crews.
When asked about the ability of other cities, such as Montreal, to clear similar amounts of snow in a third of the time, City officials bristled at the suggestion that Toronto is underprepared for this type of weather event.
“I think we are well prepared for this kind of event with the frequency that we get it,” said Gray.
“(Montreal) have a very robust program – it’s about double in costs as our program is. But they get snow of this magnitude many, many times a season and their program is scaled appropriately for that. They do snow removal at the beginning of every storm.”
Officials noted Montreal removes about 300,000 tonnes of snow a year. “We haven’t removed anywhere near that in the last 10 years,” said Vincent Sferrazza, the Director of Transportation Services.
A Major Snowstorm Condition and Significant Weather Event remain in effect, which means parking is prohibited on snow routes including all streetcar routes. Vehicles parked on snow routes are subject to a $200 fine and will be towed at the owner’s expense.
As of Wednesday, Toronto police have issued more than 3,000 tickets and towed 41 vehicles.
The City of Toronto says it has begun a phased approach to remove the more than 50 centimetres of snow that has fallen across the city over the last 10 days. Officials say crews, which have been working 24/7 to clear snow from roads and sidewalks since last Wednesday, are now transitioning to snow removal
The City of Toronto says it has begun a phased approach to remove the more than 50 centimetres of snow that has fallen across the city over the last 10 days.
Officials say crews, which have been working 24/7 to clear snow from roads and sidewalks since last Wednesday, are now transitioning to snow removal operations which involve over 450 dump trucks transporting the mounds of snow to one of the five designated storage sites.
However, officials say snow removal is expected to take up to three weeks.
“Snow removal is a pretty slow-moving operation,” explained Barbara Gray, the General Manager of Transportation Services. “Clearing a kilometre of local residential road can be completed in five to 10 minutes with a plow, a snow removal operation on that same one kilometre can take about 10 hours.”
Snow removal is being prioritized on main street roads and sidewalks with transit routes, hospitals and emergency services stations, as well as roads with limited space for snow storage.
The last time the City conducted snow removal on this scale was January 2022 when more than 180,000 tonnes of snow were cleared. This time around, City officials say they have enhanced its winter snow removal operations with additional snow removal equipment and crews.
When asked about the ability of other cities, such as Montreal, to clear similar amounts of snow in a third of the time, City officials bristled at the suggestion that Toronto is underprepared for this type of weather event.
“I think we are well prepared for this kind of event with the frequency that we get it,” said Gray.
“(Montreal) have a very robust program – it’s about double in costs as our program is. But they get snow of this magnitude many, many times a season and their program is scaled appropriately for that. They do snow removal at the beginning of every storm.”
Officials noted Montreal removes about 300,000 tonnes of snow a year. “We haven’t removed anywhere near that in the last 10 years,” said Vincent Sferrazza, the Director of Transportation Services.
A Major Snowstorm Condition and Significant Weather Event remain in effect, which means parking is prohibited on snow routes including all streetcar routes. Vehicles parked on snow routes are subject to a $200 fine and will be towed at the owner’s expense.
As of Wednesday, Toronto police have issued more than 3,000 tickets and towed 41 vehicles.
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