Montreal launching its first snow removal operation of the season

The city of Montreal has announced that it will begin its first snow removal operation of the season Tuesday morning.

The priority for snow removal over the next four to five days will be major traffic arteries, lanes reserved for public transportation and bus routes.

“Our teams are ready to load the snow tomorrow morning and intervene in the field to facilitate your travel,” said Maja Vodanovic, mayor of the Lachine borough and Executive committee member for the City of Montreal.

Snow removal in Montreal involves nearly 3,000 people and 2,200 snow removal vehicles that cover approximately 10,000 km of streets, sidewalks and bicycle paths.

Vodanovic adds that the first snow removal of the season can have delays because of debris and other objects that get caught in certain machinery.

“The first snowfall is always the one where our equipment has the most breaks because our snow blowers, they pick up branches that weren’t picked up from the streets or you know cement blocks if you left some stuff you know on your driveway,” explained Vodanovic.

“Please pick it up because it does create breaks and then we have to stop and repair and sometimes it could take up up to a few days. So it slows down the snow clearing.”

In a press release, the city of Montreal says that they have put in place several measures to ensure the effective removal of snow that includes: 7,971 free parking spaces, mostly available at night; rapid removal of parking bans once snow removal has been completed; and a team designated to identify any equipment in public areas that could cause machinery breakdowns which slows down operations.

The city is also asking residents to respect parking bans, remove garbage bags and bins from sidewalks, and park vehicles 30 cm from the sidewalk as well as fold down the mirrors to leave room for snow removal machinery.

“It would be really great if people kept as much as possible their snow on their own property,” said Vodanovic, adding, “because if you put the snow on the street it takes more time for us to pick it up. It costs more money as well. And it also hinders parking for other people.”

During snow removal, it is also recommended by the city of Montreal that people make eye contact with the drivers of snow removal machinery to make sure that they are aware of their presence. They add that these vehicles often have to move forward and backward and that these machines have large blind spots making it difficult to be aware of the presence of people at all times.

It is suggested that if there is any doubt, one should stay away from the vehicle and wait for it to leave the scene.