December 10, 2014  

 

With snowfall expected over the next 24 hours, the City of Toronto is reminding residents and businesses about the levels of snow clearing the City provides.

 

Larger snowfalls require a coordinated approach by the City’s 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 two centimetres of snow, the plows are sent to the expressways and if five centimetres falls, plows go to the 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. Residents are asked not to call 311 during a storm to ask when their street will be plowed. The City clear the local roads between 14 to 16 hours after the snow stops falling.

 

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. More information about sidewalk snow clearing and to view a map of where the service takes place, go to http://www.toronto.ca/transportation/snow/sidewalks.   

 

The City of Toronto’s levels of service for snow clearing meets those set by the Province of Ontario for municipalities and road authorities. These levels of service were adopted by Toronto City Council in 2009.  

 

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

 

Toronto is Canada's largest city, the fourth largest in North America, and home to a diverse population of about 2.8 million people. It is a global centre for business, finance, arts and culture and is consistently ranked one of the world's most livable cities. Toronto is proud to be the Host City for the 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games. For information on non-emergency City services and programs, Toronto residents, businesses and visitors can visit http://www.toronto.ca, call 311, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or follow us @TorontoComms.

 

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Media contact: Steve Johnston, Strategic Communications, 416-392-4391, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.