Laval boosts winter operations with new technology like smart traffic signs

Laval is launching new measures to improve winter safety and efficiency, including nearly 5,000 smart traffic signs that can be controlled remotely — a first for a Quebec municipality.

Laval invested $35 million to deploy the smart traffic signs that will notify drivers when they can and cannot park on the street due to snow removal. The smart signs sync with the Info-Stationnement app.

“These new dynamic signs will allow more efficient snow removal. We think we will be up to 15 per cent faster,” said Laval Mayor Stéphane Boyer.

“We analyze that we will have 30 per cent more parking availability during winter operations.”

Rashed Din, the division head at the City of Laval’s public works, explains that lights will be activated to indicate the snow-removal times.

“When the lights go off, you know that the operations of snow will be arriving,” Din said. “And from there, it gives everyone a chance to move their car.

“The command post, basically for all this, is online and it’s done through our offices with our employees once the routes have been confirmed for the snow runs.”

A recent survey found 98.4 per cent of citizens considered the signs clear and easy to understand.

Nadeem Bhatti, the division chief in operation and public works at the City of Laval, says cars being parked where they are not supposed to is the “main problem” when it comes to clearing snow in big cities like Laval and Montreal.

“So cars, when they’re in the way, sometimes it’s difficult to clear sidewalks and the streets and everything,” Bhatti said. “So that will help us, especially in those two sectors, with all the new equipment also that we have for the citizens of Laval.”

The panels have been deployed on one-third of Laval streets.

“They are deployed in Chomedey, Laval-des-Rapides, Pont-Viau, so everything in between the Highway 19, Highway 13 and 440,” said Mayor Boyer. “It is the denser area of Laval. It is where we have the more parking on the streets. And if it goes well, we want to expand it to the whole of the city.”

The City of Laval will also invest nearly $25 million by 2027 to modernize its snow-removal fleet with new trucks, sidewalk vehicles, and next-generation spreaders.

The City of Laval is responsible for clearing snow from more than 3,200 kilometres of roads and 1,300 kilometres of sidewalks, with an annual average of 3.8 million cubic metres of snow to manage.

Laval’s winter operations now include 740 vehicles and over 500 experts, supported by $20 million in private contracts.