‘It’s unpredictable’: residential street conditions draw complaints

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This article was published 20/11/2022 (668 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg streets may be covered with thick layers of slush and snow, but it could be a while before they’re deemed bad enough to plow.

The city stance is triggering complaints from some residents, who say the snow is proving a major obstacle.

Mel Marginet, who commutes by bike and relies on a mixture of roads, back lanes and active transportation paths to do so, said snow-clearing has been slow thus far, making her travels difficult.

“There’s tons of gaps and it’s so unpredictable,” she said Monday.

Throughout last week, Marginet said she was forced to get off her bike and walk alongside it through deep snow on Daly Street in order to reach a key AT path.

“There’s a good three blocks or so where you have to push your bike through it.”

On actual AT routes, her bike’s studded tires can struggle to pass through the snow.

“You just can’t ever be sure that your route is going to be cleared. It’d be like if every time you have to drive somewhere, you didn’t know if you were going to have to hit a snowbank,” said Marginet.

City of Winnipeg estimates show about 22 centimetres of snow have accumulated since winter conditions set in earlier this month. However, the amount of liquid within that particularly fluffy snow equates to about 12 cm of “meaningful snowfall,” said Michael Cantor, Winnipeg manager of streets maintenance.

Cantor said inspectors have deemed residential roads to be passable overall, though Winnipeggers are encouraged to report any trouble spots to 311.

“Passable is sometimes a subjective measure. But at the end of the day, our foremen drive (the residential roads) and actually check,” he said.

Winnipeg’s snow-clearing policy notes residential streets are normally maintained to a compacted snow surface, instead of bare pavement. However, those streets will be plowed to bare pavement “whenever conditions allow during an all-out plowing operation,” according to the city’s website.

This begins when an inspection warrants a cleaning operation, usually after a 10-cm snowfall or an equivalent amount of snow drifting.

Cantor said no decision has been made to plow residential streets yet.

“It’s not really (just about) snow (amounts), it’s conditions. We know that if we get an additional five to 10 cm, we’re probably going to be at the point where we’re going to plow then.”

Many have taken to social media in recent days to criticize a perceived lack of snow clearing, with some posting pictures of snow-filled sidewalks or complaining about cars getting stuck on residential roads. Some have speculated the city has already overspent its 2022 snow-clearing budget, so it’s reluctant to plow again.

The city currently expects to finish the year $40 million over its $35-million snow-clearing budget.

On Monday, Cantor said city crews continue to clear snow to meet municipal standards and his department has never been asked to restrict work due to the budget.

Meanwhile, city policy calls for sidewalks adjacent to major routes and collector streets to be cleared within 36 hours after an “average” storm ends. Residential street sidewalks should be cleared within five working days after plowing starts, once at least eight cm of snow is present.

Cantor said sidewalks adjacent to main routes and collector streets have been plowed twice in recent weeks, while those alongside residential routes have been cleared once.

That could change soon. If the current weather forecast that temperatures will exceed 0 C on multiple days this week prove accurate, residential sidewalks could be set for another plow soon, said Cantor.

“If you have plus (temperatures) in the day and a significant (drop) in the night, that can play a role to create some slippery sidewalks. So, we may have to go do a maintenance plow to avoid that.”

Cantor said the city is not waiting for a potential melt to alleviate the need for snow clearing.

Marginet, who is also a member of the sustainable transportation team for the Green Action Centre, said she’d like to see a higher priority placed on snow clearing on sidewalks and AT routes, arguing current conditions discourage folks from choosing greener travel options.

“I would say that right now, it’s unpredictable… You can have giant gaps (in clearing) and icy ridges to deal with.”

The city is pursuing a change to improve sidewalk plowing, after council recently approved $3 million to buy 15 more sidewalk-clearing machines. However, those machines aren’t expected to arrive until next summer.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga