City of Toronto reminds residents about its level of snow clearing service

Though it's been a relatively mild winter, we should never forget that snow is a fact of life here in Canada. The City of Toronto has issued this press release to let all residents know exactly when it will deal with snow on streets and sidewalks.

News Release
February 24, 2010

City of Toronto reminds residents about its level of snow clearing service

With a sizeable snowfall expected over the next few days, the City of Toronto is reminding residents and businesses about the levels of snow clearing the City provides.

Large snowfalls require a coordinated approach by the Citys staff and contractors to ensure that City streets and sidewalks are safe.

As soon as the snow begins, Transportation Services sends out its fleet of salt trucks to the expressways and the main roads. After this, the salt trucks will then move on to the local roads. If the City receives five centimetres of snow, the plows are sent to the expressways and main roads and plowing will take place for the duration of the storm.

When the snow stops and if the snow accumulation reaches eight centimetres, plows will be sent to the local roads. Normally, local road plowing will be completed between 14 and 16 hours after the storm has ended.

The City will clear snow from sidewalks on local roads where it is mechanically possible to do so after eight centimetres (five centimetres in January and February) of snow has fallen. In the central core of the city, property owners are required to clear their sidewalks of snow 12 hours after a storm has taken place. To learn more about sidewalk snow clearing in Toronto and to view a map of where the service takes place, click on http://www.toronto.ca/transportation/snow.

The City of Torontos levels of service for snow clearing meet or exceed those set by the Province of Ontario for municipalities and road authorities. These levels of service were adopted by Toronto City Council in 2009.

Residents who have questions about snow clearing efforts in their area can call 311.

The City has 600 snow plows, 300 sidewalk plows and 200 salt trucks ready to tackle the winter season.

If you experience any additional difficulty with your snow removal service, please feel free to give our office a call at 416-392-1372.

TTC Online Trip Planner

The TTC has recently released the latest beta of their online Trip Planner. By inputting a starting point and a destination within the city, the service will attempt to find the most efficient TTC routing to get you there the Better Way.

Give it a try here.

Remember to always give yourself enough extra time for walking distances and to be mindful of traffic situations, as they are not included in the system's trip calculation.