For the past week, City crews have been working day and night on snow removal operations with the goal of making the transportation network safe and passable for all users by reducing the hazards caused by snowbanks that restrict access or visibility. It is a monumental task that will take weeks to complete given the sheer volume of snow on the transportation network. We recognize operations are taking longer than usual, but rest assured, crews are hard at work.
All of our winter operations and maintenance activities are carried out in accordance with our Council approved Maintenance Quality Standards, including snow removal. Snow removal on our transportation network is triggered by the amount of snow accumulation that is encroaching on the roadway. Following two back-to-back major winter storms, the Ottawa airport has reported 92 centimetres on the ground. That is a lot of snow to remove! We haven’t had that much snow on the ground since 2001.
How are snow removal activities prioritized?
When snow starts to encroach and minimize the width of the roadway, sidewalk or winter cycling lanes, crews complete snow removal operations in between weather events. This requires the use of equipment to physically remove snow from the side of the road and transport it to one of our snow storage facilities or to move it to the city’s right-of-way. Our operations are prioritized by the Council approved Maintenance Quality Standards and timeline for each classification of roadway: arterial, collectors and residential streets.
Did you know that snow removal operations in Business Improvement Areas, business districts, arterial and collector roads can only be conducted overnight? For the safety of our residents and operators, to maintain traffic flow, and to limit disruptions to business districts, the best time to complete snow removal is overnight, which limits how much the team can accomplish in one 12-hour shift. The same operational timing also applies to busy residential neighborhoods near business districts and commercial areas as well as school zones where pedestrian traffic is much higher during the daytime. Snow removal that occurs during the daytime happens on streets where there is less traffic and fewer pedestrians. Safety is the City's number one priority.
Snow removal operations continue 24/7
The focus remains on Business Improvement Areas, business districts, arterial and collector roads, and school zones. Crews are also working on urban residential streets, bridge decks and addressing sightline concerns at intersections and corners, as well as other residential neighborhoods with significant encroachment into the travel lanes or limited snow storage remaining. On Sunday, February 9, the team proactively began selective snow removal throughout the city to mitigate the snowbanks ahead of the major storms that blanketed the city. To that end, the focus is in the areas where no snow removal has occurred this winter season.
The team continues their work, day and night, on snow removal operations throughout the City. Since Monday, February 17, 628 kilometres of roadway have been marked as complete. That’s like driving to just shy of Windsor, Ontario, in a blower, with dump trucks lined up the whole way!
All resources have been assigned to snow removal as well as hundreds of contractors; together, they have removed more than over 516,000 cubic meters of snow and hauled it to our six snow storage facilities across the city. To put that into perspective, the amount of snow removed would fit into the Canadian Tire Centre and then some! The snow storage facilities are filling up fast, and crews are working hard to make room for all that snow, but it takes time.
Did you know that we can have up to 7 workers assigned to a single snow removal crew with another 8 to 12 operators hauling snow from our roads and into our snow disposal facilities? This means that over a 12-hour period, we can have up to 513 people working on snow removal simultaneously. This doesn’t even include those who are out coordinating, leading and supporting the operations!
Please remember that parking restrictions are in effect during snow removal operations – pay close attention to posted signage as these indicate when parking restrictions will take effect. Failure to remove parked vehicles from areas scheduled for snow removal will be ticketed and towed to a nearby street. No one is exempt from these restrictions, including those with on-street parking permits.
Next steps
The Roads and Parking Services team will continue working on removing snowbanks and widening the roadways to make the transportation network safe and passable for everyone.
