City deems storm cleanup success

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This article was published 12/01/2024 (980 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Efforts to clear Winnipeg’s first major snowfall of the winter will be examined to ensure new snow-clearing investments are paying off.

While most officials are optimistic about the results, one councillor fears the cleanup of sidewalks still lags behind that of roads.

Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of the public works committee, said she’s asked for a post-cleanup briefing on how snow-clearing investments, intended to speed up sidewalk clearing, panned out. That operation is currently underway.

“We did some significant funding and operational changes to the active transportation component… We bought 15 additional sidewalk machines,” said Lukes.

Council approved the $3-million purchase in 2022 but the equipment didn’t arrive in time for last winter due to supply chain issues.

Lukes said she hasn’t received complaints about the current clearing operation and believes Winnipeg generally offers among the best snow-clearing service of any winter city.

“We continually demand more… (but) this is a massive amount of snow to move and clear and it just takes time,” she said.

The city’s manager of streets maintenance said clearing on main roads should wrap up Saturday, while sidewalk clearing has gone well so far.

“We’ve got more machines and it’s going much better than previous years, that’s for sure,” said Michael Cantor.

While plows were out to keep key routes passable before the snow stopped falling, the full official plowing operation didn’t start until 7 p.m. Thursday, he noted.

Residential routes are set to be cleared between 7 p.m. Sunday and 7 a.m. Wednesday. Residents can confirm the shift when their snow zone will be cleared by downloading the Know Your Zone app or contacting 311.

Cantor said more than 15 cm of snow fell on the city from Wednesday morning to Thursday evening. Large snowfalls this winter were largely absent prior to that point, with few exceptions, letting crews focus mostly on sanding and salting.

While many residents have complained about sidewalks being impassable long after streets were cleared in the past, Cantor said the clearing is on track so far to meet city policy. That calls for sidewalks along major routes, bus routes and collector streets to be cleared within 36 hours after an average storm ends.

“The plan for me is for us to meet the level of service,” he said.

Cantor said clearing on residential sidewalks should begin after higher priority sidewalks are completed and will likely take less than five weekdays to complete.

A residential road plowing operation was declared soon after the storm ended to avoid allowing ruts to develop, he said.

“We made the decision to go immediately just because we want to be on the safe side and we got over 10 cm,” said Cantor.

Meanwhile, one city councillor said he’s still concerned sidewalk clearing isn’t happening quickly enough.

“On Thursday morning… I saw sidewalks not cleared where arterial roads were mostly cleared. I saw people standing at bus stops close to knee-deep in snow. I heard of people walking on streets because the sidewalks weren’t plowed and I think that there is a big gap left to fill… because the conditions were clearly night and day from the arterial road treatment to the sidewalk treatment,” said Coun. Matt Allard.

Allard said St. Mary’s Road had been cleared Thursday morning while its sidewalk appeared untouched and the sidewalk on Archibald Street hadn’t been cleared by Friday morning.

He said that reduces mobility for people who rely on sidewalks, including those with disabilities.

However, Cantor stressed road and sidewalk plowing both began before the snow stopped falling on Thursday, though locations may not match exactly.

“There are efforts on sidewalks during the snowfall event… It’s really about opening up as much as we can for emergency services and high-pedestrian locations but it’s not all the (main routes and collector streets). That’s being done… once the snowfall is done,” he said.

Cantor said plowing of the highest priority streets and sidewalks, along main routes and collector streets, should be completed within the same time frame.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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