Sidewalk plowing

[W. K. Lis]

Where the sidewalks are narrow or obstructed in Toronto, maybe we should consider heated sidewalks? For sidewalks where the sidewalk plows can't reach properly.

Holland's heated sidewalks, streets were a gamble that seems to have paid off

From link. Mar 22, 2016

Imagine, in the wake of a big snowstorm, city sidewalks and streets that never get caked with snow and ice. No salt, no slopping your way through slush or gingerly walking on ice.

That’s a luxury people in Holland, MI have been enjoying for some time now, thanks to their heated sidewalks and streets.

What started out as a daring idea and a monetary long shot seems to have paid off.

Former Mayor Al McGeehan was a city councilman when the decision was made to install the heated streets and sidewalks.

McGeehan tells us Holland’s “snowmelt” system takes heated water the nearby power plant would usually feed into an adjacent lake, and instead runs it through miles of piping laid under the surface of the city’s streets and sidewalks.

According to downtownholland.com, the system can melt about an inch of snow per hour at temperatures as low as 15 degrees.

McGeehan says the idea first came up in spring 1988, when Holland’s downtown area was already undergoing a massive overhaul.

“We had torn up our downtown from storefront to storefront. Sidewalks, curb, gutter, street - we were putting in all new infrastructure,” McGeehan says. “A leading industrialist here in Holland by the name of Edgar Prince who had seen this kind of a system used in some piazzas and plaza areas in Europe, he said … why don’t we dream? Could we, while the streets are torn up, could we put in a system that would use that heat energy to save us money from snow plowing and shoveling and all that?”

Though it was inspired by similar setups in Europe, Holland’s snowmelt system would be the first in America and presented a number of challenges.

“Back in 1988, when the idea was first launched, it was rocket science to us,” McGeehan says. “We didn’t know anything about it. It had never been done before in the United States. We had no idea, number one, how it worked, how we could hook it up to our power plant. We had no idea how much it was going to cost to create, and the biggest question was, how much is it going to cost to operate it and maintain it?”

Despite these uncertainties, McGeehan tells us, “The majority of the city council said, ‘Let’s dare to dream big, and let’s give it a shot.’”

According to McGeehan, that gamble has paid off. He says the operating costs turned out to be “much less than anybody had anticipated." Holland continued to expand the system until all heat from the wastewater had been put to use.

A new gas-fired power plant is being built in Holland, and McGeehan tells us that current city leaders plan to use hot water from the turbines there to quintuple the snowmelt system's coverage downtown.

 

[DSC]

Heated sidewalks MAY have a place in our battle but I suggest we first need to concentrate on sidewalk ploughing. City staff seem to think it's impossible in downtown Toronto and maybe we should invest in a trip to Montreal for them to see their system in action. I lived there for 30 years on a street with fairly narrow sidewalks and hydro poles; the City may not always have ploughed it quickly enough but when they did it was really very well done and they seem to manage to manoeuvre around obstacles. Who says Quebecois cannot drive!

 

[lenaitch]

Always nice to have a nearby generating station with waste heat available.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Always nice to have a nearby generating station with waste heat available.

The city should get in contact with Enwave (which the city used to own, but were forced to sell off), which supplies heating and air-conditioning to the downtown. See link.

 

[lenaitch]

Assuming that Enwave uses fossil fuels to power their heating network (only assuming, I don't know), sidewalk heating would seem to me to be a poor direction to take.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Assuming that Enwave uses fossil fuels to power their heating network (only assuming, I don't know), sidewalk heating would seem to me to be a poor direction to take.

Where can they get "heat" from? Where does the "heat" from skating rinks and trails go? Take the "heat" from the ice surfaces and "dump" it on the sidewalks. Same with the "heat" from refrigerators or freezers.

Reclaim waste heat from rink

See link.

Refrigeration plants used in arenas provide necessary cooling to produce and maintain ice surfaces. The refrigeration equipment draws electricity; the highest ongoing non-labour cost in arenas. The refrigeration plant removes heat from ice pads and the condenser disposes of it outdoors. On average, as much as 7.2 million Btu of heat, or more than 2,000 kWh, are generated each day by an ice plant.

Heat-recovery systems can harness heat as free energy from the refrigeration plant, which can provide overall heating savings of more than 75%.

Most of the wasted heat available comes from the refrigeration condenser, but some heat can be recovered from the building’s exhaust air. Recovered heat can be used for space heating, domestic water heating, subfloor heating, slab heating, floodwater heating, ice melting, and preheating cold outdoor air for ventilation.

 

[DSC]

I love gadgets as much as anyone but do we really think it's a sensible idea to set up a whole 'network' to link heat-recovery systems to our sidewalks - except in a very few and nearby places. We really get very little snow here (and less now than in the past) so proper mechanised sidewalk clearing is a FAR better thing to aim for.

 

[gabe]

An elderly lady who lives in my neighborhood thanked me for always clearing the sidewalks. I clear the sidewalks at the front and side of my house. She said a lot of people in this neighborhood don't believe in shoveling snow these days. I shared her frustration, as I'm a pedestrian 90% of the time. All these rich yuppies moved into the neighborhood and none them shovel their driveways. They got these big ass SUV's that climb the snowbanks, i also seen some people dump bags and bags and bags of salt all over the driveway. Salt is so bad for the environment and our pets.

 

[Woodbridge_Heights]

There's this new invention called a "dump truck" that could be used as part of snow removal.

Dump trucks need to put the snow somewhere, and I seem to recall someone posting here a few years ago complaining about the "environmental disaster" that is the snow storage area near Downsview.

 

[Towered]

An elderly lady who lives in my neighborhood thanked me for always clearing the sidewalks. I clear the sidewalks at the front and side of my house. She said a lot of people in this neighborhood don't believe in shoveling snow these days. I shared her frustration, as I'm a pedestrian 90% of the time. All these rich yuppies moved into the neighborhood and none them shovel their driveways. They got these big ass SUV's that climb the snowbanks, i also seen some people dump bags and bags and bags of salt all over the driveway. Salt is so bad for the environment and our pets.

Why would they shovel their driveways if they have vehicles that are not hindered by snow?

 

[gabe]

Why would they shovel their driveways if they have vehicles that are not hindered by snow?

Because it's a safely issue? People who make Amazon deliveries, or mail carriers, need to use your driveway. Typically people who don't shovel their driveways don't shovel the sidewalks.

 

[junctionist]

Sidewalk heating makes sense if you have pavements besides poured concrete that are more susceptible to damage by regular sidewalk plows.

 

[dowlingm]

If GO Transit can heat their platforms to benefit commuters, I would think it should be feasible to heat some high-usage sidewalks in Toronto, such as near transit stations.

 

[W. K. Lis]

How other cities around the world clear their streets of snow — including one that puts women first

From link.

Toronto is not the only city to deal with one of winter’s greatest annoyances: snow clearing.

But there’s a spirit of innovation in other northern locales that Torontonians can only envy.

In Sweden, for example, Stockholm and other cities have adopted a “gender-equal plowing strategy” that aims to give women a better chance of slogging through the white stuff.

Daniel Hellden, a senior city official in Stockholm, said figures show men are more apt to drive while women are more likely to walk or use public transit. So when the snow starts falling, sidewalks, cycling lanes and bus lanes take priority over clearing roads. Daycare centres and schools are served first.

“Men are sitting in the cars, and the women walk, cycle and go by public transportation in much higher amounts. So we’re trying to change” snow-clearing priorities, Hellden said in an interview, referencing local statistics on how people move around the city.

Iceland, with its wealth of hot springs, takes a different approach. Its capital city, Reykjavik, taps into that underground thermal energy and uses the hot springs groundwater to heat its houses. It then pipes the run-off water, still a balmy 30 C, through plastic tubing embedded in the streets and sidewalks to melt the snow.

Throughout Scandinavia, in cities like Oslo, Norway, and Helsinki, Finland, city governments have installed electric elements in sidewalks to keep them ice- and snow-free. Officials say heating the sidewalks is cheaper than clearing the snow and ice. And an added bonus is that hospital visits for slip-and-fall accidents have declined.

When we think Japan, we generally think of blossoms, not snow. But the city of Sapporo, population 2 million, is one of the country’s snowiest cities, with an annual average of six metres. Most of its sidewalks are heated, as is true of other northern Japanese cities.

Montreal considered a proposal in 2015 to install heated sidewalks, but officials decided the cost to install the heaters was prohibitive, and the idea was abandoned.

Other snowy Japanese cities, such as Tsunan, have installed sprinklers or shosetsu (snow-melting pipes, in English) in the middle of its streets to spray warm groundwater over the street to melt snow.

In Minneapolis, Minn., city officials launched a major inspection blitz two years ago aimed at forcing property owners, residents and businesses to clear snow on sidewalks abutting their properties. If snow wasn’t cleared within 24 hours of a storm, property owners were issued “assessments” for the cost of having city workers do the job.

In 2018, the first year inspectors were sent out in force, assessments were five times higher than the previous year.

Toronto property owners are similarly required to clear the snow and ice from their sidewalks. Many will remember the days when Toronto celebs such as cartoonist Ben Wicks, Maple Leaf Wendel Clark and Blue Jay Lloyd Moseby had commercials reminding Torontonians to be nice, clear your ice.

 

[W. K. Lis]

Item IE17.7. From link.

City Council adopted this item on November 25, 2020 with amendments.

Clearing the Path Towards a Safe and Accessible Winter​

Committee Recommendations​

The Infrastructure and Environment Committee recommends that: 1. City Council direct the General Manager, Transportation Services to investigate the appropriate equipment required to clear bike lanes and cycle tracks. 2. City Council direct the General Manager, Transportation Services and the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to recommend costed options for clearing snow on a subset of paved pedestrian and cycling pathways in Toronto's parks based on recreational and active transportation winter use.​

Background Information (Committee)​

(November 2, 2020) Letter from City Council on Clearing the Path Towards a Safe and Accessible Winter (http://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2020/ie/bgrd/backgroundfile-158039.pdf)​

Motions (City Council)​

1 - Motion to Amend Item (Additional) moved by Councillor Josh Matlow (Carried) That: 1. City Council direct the General Manager, Transportation Services to seek and implement measures to increase the snow clearing sidewalk pilot for this winter, including the possibility of obtaining more equipment and stretching the hours of service. 2. City Council direct the General Manager, Transportation Services to report to the December 2, 2020 meeting of the Toronto and East York Community Council with the streets that will receive sidewalk snow clearing during the 2020-2021 winter season, the rationale for not providing full sidewalk clearing harmonization, if applicable, and a path forward to full harmonization for the 2021-2022 winter season for City Council's consideration. Motion to Adopt Item as Amended (Carried)​

See also this link.

Toronto's sidewalk snow clearing process has long been lacking thanks to the fact that only sidewalks outside the downtown core actually get plowed by the city each year, but that's finally going to change.

As a result of a motion passed at city council on Thursday, Nov. 26, the City of Toronto will finally be clearing snow in parts of Old Toronto and East York this winter.

The decision came after city councillor Josh Matlow first introduced the "Clearing the Path Towards a Safe & Accessible Winter" motion earlier this year. Thousands of residents then sent letters, emails and signed a petition calling on the city to introduce an improved snow clearing plan.

Safe and Accessible Sidewalk Snow Clearing Motion Approved! – Thank you to Mayor ⁦@JohnTory⁩, Councillor ⁦@m_layton⁩, city council and the thousands of Torontonians who advocated for the success of this motion. We’re making progress! https://t.co/KYb9bGhTnI
— Josh Matlow (@JoshMatlow) November 26, 2020

The motion failed before the city's infrastructure and environment committee at the beginning of November, but city council was able to overrule that decision this week.

This is far from the first time that politicians, advocates and residents have called on the city to upgrade its snow clearing process. It is the first year, however, that Toronto is going to experience the winter season during a pandemic, so many have argued that sidewalk accessibility is more important than ever.

"It is inequitable that residents in the former cities of North York, Scarborough, Etobicoke, and York receive sidewalk snow clearing while the majority of neighbourhoods in Old Toronto and East York do not," reads Matlow's motion.

"This is especially concerning given that the levels of pedestrian traffic are much higher in these areas. Residents of our city's inner suburban areas also frequently walk through downtown and midtown, and rightfully expect safe and accessible sidewalks too."

The city's excuse has long been that they simply don't have the proper equipment to plow the narrow sidewalks in these parts of Toronto, stating that "in older parts of Toronto, narrow sidewalks, obstructions and obstacles prevent plows from working safely."

As a result, sidewalks plows have only cleared about 6,400 km of Toronto's 7,900 km of sidewalks each winter.

But the motion approved by city council includes a recommendation to look into options for new equipment, rendering that argument less valid.

In addition to agreeing to improve snow clearing in Old Toronto and East York, snow removal will also occur on the ActiveTO pilot Destination Danforth bike lanes.

On top of that, the city will also find ways to plow more trails in parks to help residents stay active this winter.

Next steps for the snow clearing plan will see the general manager of transportation services report to the Toronto and East York community council on Dec. 2 with the list of streets that will receive sidewalk snow clearing during the 2020-2021 winter season.