How does the city deal with snow?
Do you think we’re in for yet another white Christmas? If yes, we better spend the holidays indoors to avoid the snowy drive.
But on another note, hopefully it would just be another ordinary winter weather, so that the city’s snow clearing patrollers and operators don’t have to put extra work on the holidays.
They’ve done a great job on providing us safer roads during the winter season. And all of them deserve a Merry Christmas.
In an interview with Mark Mills, Manager of Road Operations, he tells us that city patrollers are monitoring the streets 24/7 beginning early November to check whether assistance is needed from the equipments operations team.
These city staff are also the same ones in charge for road repairs and mostly any road related issues in the city post and pre-winter season.
When snow accumulates in the streets, we often just wait for salt trucks and plow trucks to clear the snow. And sometimes, we might think they take too long to take action.
Everyone should be aware that the city’s snow clearing operators follow a standard procedure when it comes to salting the roads and plowing the snow.
According to Mills, they have what they call levels of service. They have a prioritized list of the roads and streets that needed to be cleared of snow at a specific amount or measurement.
The top on their list are the major expressways, which they start plowing when snow reaches at 2.5 centimetres. Next is the main roads, like the Yonge St, Lawrence Ave, and Eglinton Ave at 5 centimetres as well as collector routes or bus routes, and the last would be the local or the neighbourhood roads which they plow at 8 centimetres.
Mills said that although it’s their job to clear out the roads for us to have a less messier drive, he still wants to remind drivers to do their part on practicing safe and responsible driving especially this winter season when the roads can get more slippery.
When there’s snow, take it slow!
Watch our full interview with Mark Mills on Filipino TV’s F.Y.I.