By the numbers: Toronto’s plan to clear roads, sidewalks of Old Man Winter

The City of Toronto has unveiled its annual $85-million snow and ice removal plan to battle Old Man Winter and keep our streets and sidewalks clear and safe.

With another snowstorm underway, here’s a breakdown of the 2015 snow removal plan, which runs from January to December with 50 per cent ($42 million) of the money spent on road plowing and driveway clearing, 30 per cent ($25 million) on road salting and 20 per cent ($17 million) on clearing sidewalks and bus stops.

  • 600 snowplows, 300 sidewalk plows and 200 salt trucks are part of the snow-clearing arsenal.
  • More than 1,000 pieces of equipment have been tuned up and 1,500 city workers are standing by for the season.
  • $11 million spent on salt.
  • Snowplows are not deployed on main roads until five centimetres of snow has accumulated on the ground.
  • Salt trucks will be first used to treat the expressways and main roads, followed by local roads and laneways.
  • Snowplows will only head out to expressways after 2.5 centimetres of snow has accumulated on the ground.
  • Plowing on local roads won’t start until the snow stops or hits eight centimetres.
  • city’s main priority is to ensure main roads are clear for emergency and TTC vehicles. After that, crews will tackle local roads and plan to finish clearing them around 14 to 16 hours after a storm ends.
  • Winter officially arrives at 6:03 p.m. on Dec. 21.

Here’s what Transportation Services has planned specifically for the snowstorm on Wednesday and Thursday:

Anti-Icing (application of liquid salt brine)

  • All hills & bridges were anti-iced last night and through today
  • High collision intersections and TTC routes with articulated buses have also been anti-iced

Salting

  • Will begin on expressways, arterials and collectors this evening when snow begins to stick

Plowing

  • Expressway plowing will begin at approx 3 a.m. and will continue until complete
  • Arterial and collector plowing will begin at approx 3 a.m. and will continue until complete
  • Local road plowing will not begin until the event is substantially complete at approximately 9am
  • Local road plowing will take approximately 16 hours to complete and will continue until approximately 1 a.m. Friday

Sidewalks and bus stops

  • Manual clearing of steps and priority locations will begin at 7 a.m.
  • Mechanical sidewalk clearing will begin after the morning rush hour
  • Mechanical bus stop clearing will begin after the completion of arterial plowing

Note: These plans are subject to changing conditions such as timing of the event and the amount of precipitation.

Click here to read more about what to expect this winter.

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