City Prepared For First Snow
Posted November 25, 2010 1:49 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Have you started performing your snow-shovelling stretches? Dusted off your boots? Thrown the old ice scraper in the back seat of the car?
While you may not be quite ready to deal with winter, the city has its fleet of snow removal machines on standby awaiting the first significant accumulation of the season.
“Winter is just around the corner and we are ready for it,” Gary Welsh, General Manager of Transportation Services, said. “Our equipment and staff are ready again this year to keep Toronto’s streets and sidewalks clear during the winter season.”
The city is equipped with 600 snowplows, 300 sidewalk plows, 200 salt trucks and more than 1,600 staff dedicated to keeping routes clear.
When a storm hits the first goal is to have main roads clear for the TTC and emergency vehicles, then it’s on to local roads, which should be cleared within 14 to 16 hours after a system hits.
Salt trucks hit the streets first, and after five centimetres fall, the plows are sent out to clear main roads and highways. Once 8cm of snow accumulates the plows hit local roads and sidewalks.
Homeowners are required to clear the sidewalk in front of their properties within 12 hours of a snowfall.
The city will provide sidewalk clearing services for seniors and disabled residents for areas not covered by sidewalk plows.
Residents can call 311 to receive help.
Click here for more on the city’s snow removal plans.
