Sidewalk Snow Clearing Trial

The City invites residents to learn more about the Sidewalk Snow Clearing Trial by attending one of four Virtual Public Information Events. Each event will include a presentation followed by a Question & Answer session.

Based on guidance from the City’s Chief Medical Officer of Health the information events will be held virtually to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

There are two ways to join the Virtual Public Information Events:

• Online: Register for one of the events. You will receive an email with instructions on how to join the event on your computer, tablet or smartphone.
• By phone (audio only): When the event starts, dial 416-915-6530 and enter the access code for the event, provided above.

If you have not previously participated in a Webex event hosted by the City, we recommend you take some time to learn about participating in Virtual Engagement Events.

If you are not able to attend one of the virtual events, you can view the presentation and submit questions or comments to City staff by phone, email or mail.

Current Mechanical Sidewalk Clearing Program

Toronto has about 7,300 km of sidewalk. The City mechanically clears snow and ice from approximately 6,100 km of sidewalk (about 84 per cent) as part of the Winter Maintenance Program.

Under the current program, the City does not provide mechanical sidewalk clearing if:

• the sidewalk is too narrow for current equipment or contains obstacles, such as utility poles
• there is limited space to store snow cleared from the sidewalk (such as the presence of parked cars immediately adjacent the sidewalk)
• there are encroachments from private properties (such as retaining walls or fences) that could be damaged by sidewalk plows

Seniors and Persons With Disabilities Sidewalk Clearing Program

Currently, seniors or people with disabilities who live in a part of the city without mechanical sidewalk clearing can apply for inclusion in a program that brings City workers to clear their sidewalks manually.

Sidewalks Not Cleared as Part of the Winter Maintenance Program

Where sidewalk clearing is not provided by the City, all home, property, and business owners must clear snow and ice from the sidewalk in front of, or adjacent to, their property within 12 hours of the end of a snowfall. The fine for not clearing snow from public property is $105 plus $30 surcharge.

Nine smaller sidewalk plows were purchased by the City to clear approximately 230 km of sidewalk as part of the trial. Each of the smaller plows was assigned two routes, each ranging from 9 km to 15 km of sidewalk. The plows were deployed after 2 cm of snow accumulated, which is the same threshold used to activate the City’s existing fleet of larger sidewalk plows. Because each plow was able to clear one route per day, a full round snow clearing on the trial routes was completed in two days.

• Route 1: St. Clair Avenue, Rogers Road, Dufferin Street, Keele Street
• Route 2: Bloor Street West, Jane Street, Runnymede Road, Annette Street, Dundas Street West
• Route 3: Yonge Street, Avenue Road, Lawrence Avenue West, Eglinton Avenue West
• Route 4: Bloor Street West, Roncesvalles Avenue, Parkside Drive, The Queensway
• Route 5: Bloor Street West, Landsdowne Avenue, Ossington Avenue, Dufferin Street, Queen Street West
• Route 6: Bloor Street West, Dupont Street, Ossington Avenue, Christie Street, Bathurst Street
• Route 7: Danforth Avenue, Gerrard Street East, Broadview Avenue, Carlaw Avenue, Greenwood Avenue
• Route 8: Gerrard Street East, Kingston Road, Woodbine Avenue, Main Street, Victoria Park Avenue
• Route 9: Winona Drive, Davenport Road, Yonge Street, St. Clair Avenue West

The trial routes were designed to capture the most houses possible enrolled in the Seniors or Persons with Disabilities Snow Clearing Program. As a result, 1,443 houses enrolled in the program received mechanical clearing over the past two winter seasons, making the program more efficient while also providing a large enough area to effectively evaluate the equipment.

Although the trial was focused on clearing houses enrolled in the program, plow operators were directed to the entire length of sidewalk on each block, where possible. This continuous snow clearing allowed for better evaluation of the effectiveness of the new plows.

Transportation Services will continue to manually clear sidewalks for seniors or persons with disabilities enrolled in the program whose households were not included in the trial.

A staff report with the results of the sidewalk trial and recommendations from Transportation Services will be presented to the Infrastructure & Environment Committee of City Council on May 25, 2021. If the recommendations are approved by committee, the report will be presented to City Council for consideration.