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Sidewalk plowing
- Thread starter W. K. Lis
- Start date
allengeorge
Senior Member
This report sounds fairly positive, in that less than 10% of the sidewalks downtown cannot be plowed. Let’s roll this out!
afransen
Senior Member
And the problems are solvable over time. Trees encroaching on the sidewalk? Maybe a place for a curb bump out to give that tree room to grow. Overgrown shrubs? Trim, baby, trim! Those shrubs are impeding pedestrian mobility if it makes the sidewalk too narrow for such small plows.
Johnny Au
Senior Member
Don't forget sidewalk slabs that are uneven (with some being as high as a stair-step between slabs).
vic
Senior Member
They patched these ones up on my street at the end of March. I've seen them come around to grind them flat a few years ago in different parts of the neighbourhood too. That's much louder and messier, but also longer-lasting.
afransen
Senior Member
In my parent's small town, sidewalk leveling is down with leveling (not sure if cement or foam) pumped underneath. Much better solution.
Woodbridge_Heights
Senior Member
Put the bollards out on the street then. If the motorists can't behave, then their space should be used to control their behaviour.
DSC
Superstar
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We seem to be making progress! EDITED TO ADD: Full Report at http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2021.IE22.13
Here is the News Release
May 17, 2021
Mayor Tory announces plan to expand sidewalk snow clearing across Toronto
Today, Mayor John Tory announced the City of Toronto’s plan to expand sidewalk snow clearing to all neighbourhoods starting this winter. City staff have recommended the expansion of this service following a successful trail program over the last two winters. This will mean 103,626 households will now receive this service – including 91 per cent which would now receive mechanical sidewalk snow clearing and around nine per cent which would be manually cleared due to sidewalk obstructions.
The expansion of the service aims to improve safety for residents in winter, provide more equitable snow clearing service to all areas of the city, and support improved accessibility.
Right now, around 85 per cent of sidewalks in the city are already cleared by mechanical sidewalk plows while 15 per cent are not cleared mechanically. In a report going to the Infrastructure and Environment committee next week, City staff confirm that by testing the smaller equipment, as well as the data gathered from the comprehensive inventory, City staff determined that tested smaller plows could clear approximately 91 per cent of sidewalks in Toronto. The remaining nine per cent of sidewalks could be cleared manually by City workers.
When new, smaller snow plows became available in 2019, the City purchased and tested nine plows on nine routes that primarily serve seniors and persons with disabilities and did not previously receive the service. The routes covered 231 kilometres of sidewalk and City staff observed and documented the performance of the machines in a range of snow conditions and neighbourhood settings.
During the summer of 2020, the City also conducted a comprehensive inventory of sidewalks to collect data to help inform the trial as well as the report. Examples of data collected include sidewalk segment lengths and widths, encroachments at private properties such as planters and retaining walls, and other obstructions such as utility poles, street furniture and adjacent on-street parking.
The report called Mechanical Sidewalk Winter Maintenance Trial is at http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/decisionBodyProfile.do?function=doPrepare&meetingId=19771.
The report will be considered by the Infrastructure and Environment Committee on May 25 and then by City Council on June 8 and 9.
More information on the sidewalk trial, including a public presentation, is at: https://www.toronto.ca/services-pay...ter-maintenance/sidewalk-snow-clearing-trial/
Here is the News Release
May 17, 2021
Mayor Tory announces plan to expand sidewalk snow clearing across Toronto
Today, Mayor John Tory announced the City of Toronto’s plan to expand sidewalk snow clearing to all neighbourhoods starting this winter. City staff have recommended the expansion of this service following a successful trail program over the last two winters. This will mean 103,626 households will now receive this service – including 91 per cent which would now receive mechanical sidewalk snow clearing and around nine per cent which would be manually cleared due to sidewalk obstructions.
The expansion of the service aims to improve safety for residents in winter, provide more equitable snow clearing service to all areas of the city, and support improved accessibility.
Right now, around 85 per cent of sidewalks in the city are already cleared by mechanical sidewalk plows while 15 per cent are not cleared mechanically. In a report going to the Infrastructure and Environment committee next week, City staff confirm that by testing the smaller equipment, as well as the data gathered from the comprehensive inventory, City staff determined that tested smaller plows could clear approximately 91 per cent of sidewalks in Toronto. The remaining nine per cent of sidewalks could be cleared manually by City workers.
When new, smaller snow plows became available in 2019, the City purchased and tested nine plows on nine routes that primarily serve seniors and persons with disabilities and did not previously receive the service. The routes covered 231 kilometres of sidewalk and City staff observed and documented the performance of the machines in a range of snow conditions and neighbourhood settings.
During the summer of 2020, the City also conducted a comprehensive inventory of sidewalks to collect data to help inform the trial as well as the report. Examples of data collected include sidewalk segment lengths and widths, encroachments at private properties such as planters and retaining walls, and other obstructions such as utility poles, street furniture and adjacent on-street parking.
The report called Mechanical Sidewalk Winter Maintenance Trial is at http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/decisionBodyProfile.do?function=doPrepare&meetingId=19771.
The report will be considered by the Infrastructure and Environment Committee on May 25 and then by City Council on June 8 and 9.
More information on the sidewalk trial, including a public presentation, is at: https://www.toronto.ca/services-pay...ter-maintenance/sidewalk-snow-clearing-trial/
Last edited:
allengeorge
Senior Member
This is great progress! I wonder if there are plans to either remove the obstructions unilaterally or work with property owners to remove them.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
Northern Light
Superstar
From this article in The Star: https://www.thestar.com/news/city_h...is-winter-their-sidewalks-will-be-plowed.html
We learn:
TRONto
Active Member
I didn't know that the city shoveled manually. I thought I had read that they would leave those 9% of properties to the home owners.
DSC
Superstar
Member Bio
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They used to (and may continue to do so) for seniors but the Report says "The 9 percent of sidewalks still not able to receive mechanical snow clearing will be served manually by City staff, likely using electric snow blowers. "
DSC
Superstar
Member Bio
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2008
- Messages
- 18,780
- Reaction score
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- Location
- St Lawrence Market Area
You need to read the Report. "If the program is expanded, a small portion of sidewalks would not be cleared due to obstacles that prevent mechanical plows from progressing along their route. In some cases, property owners may address obstacles by removing private objects, such as fences and landscaping features, located on City-owned property in order to allow snow plow machines to pass safely. "
W. K. Lis
Superstar
Now it's the city's turn. Remember back in 1987...