No firm timeframe yet when around-the-clock Toronto snow removal operations will end

Mostly cloudy to start Monday with snow showers moving in for the afternoon. Accumulations between 2 to 5 cm expected in Toronto and across the GTA, most of it falling during the evening commute.

By Nick Westoll

Posted January 24, 2022 5:09 pm.

As Toronto deals with another round of snow on Monday, it’s still not clear when removal operations from the Jan. 17 storm will be finished.

“This is one of the largest snow removal operations in the city’s history and we are making great progress,” Barbara Gray, the City of Toronto’s general manager of transportation services, told reporters Monday afternoon.

“The size and scale are so significant.”

The update came amid lingering questions about snow still piled up at the sides of many roads and tricky walking conditions on sidewalks.

Gray said as of Sunday, more than 17,000 tonnes of snow were trucked away to five municipal storage sites from 200 kilometres of roads. She said during the last snow removal operation (March 2019), more than 7,500 tonnes of snow was removed over the course of eight days.

When it comes to the areas seeing removal crews, Gray said designated snow routes, major and local roads, school safety zones, bridges, transit stops and roads with streetcar tracks are currently being prioritized. Also, roads with limited storage capacity are also seeing extra attention.

“Some areas of the city that have wider roads and wider boulevards where we can actually store the snow are not going to be getting or seeing as much snow removal as areas of the city and the older parts of the city,” she said, noting narrower roads were posing challenges for emergency crews.

Gray said the 50 centimetres of snow that fell over the course of 15 hours was more than has been seen in every January for the past 20 years, adding recent sub-zero temperatures have also hampered the response.

With the arrival of Monday’s system, Gray along with the City’s roads maintenance director Vince Sferrazza said snow removal operations would carry on concurrently and that all approximately 1,100 pieces of snow clearing equipment were out dealing with the backlog and responding to the fresh snow.

However, if more than five or six centimetres accumulate on roads and sidewalks, crews might need to start being redeployed for clearing. But Gray added the City is “well prepared” for average snow events that bring around 10 centimetres.

They were also asked about what’s being done to support TTC operations after more than 500 buses were stuck on roads after the Jan. 17 storm, which took three days to address. Sferrazza said current road clearing is focused on TTC corridors and added crews can once again be dedicated to assist.

To substantially clear what’s left by the storm system on Monday, they estimated it could happen by around 1 a.m. on Tuesday.