‘It’s going to take days’: City of Toronto says clearing out from major snowstorm will stretch into the week

City Manager Paul Johnson on the process into the cleanup after Toronto sees around 60 centimetres of snow.

The City of Toronto says work is progressing on snow clearing following a major winter snowstorm, but the work will likely go on for several days.

“It’s going to take days. This was a major event,” City Manager Paul Johnson told reporters at a transportation yard in South Riverdale Monday afternoon.

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow also spoke and said work is steadily progressing on the cleanup.

“City staff and contractors have been actively and relentlessly plowing, and we will continue plowing non-stop, and we won’t stop until the job is done,” Chow said.

She promised that “tomorrow’s commute will be better than today’s.”

Chow said that so far, 311 has responded to 200 priority one calls.

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Johnson said it’s still too early to say what the cost will be for the storm cleanup. However he said he expects it will fall within the budget and noted more money was allocated for snow-clearing this year.

Both Johnson and Chow said the city is doing a much better job clearing this storm than it would have a year ago.

Last February Toronto was roundly criticized for doing a poor job of cleaning up the city after a pair of winter storms slammed the region.

“One of the things we changed this year for Toronto was having surge capacity so we could start some targeted snow removal earlier,” Johnson said.

He said that additional capacity was being used to clear spaces around transit stops, hospitals and bridges.

“What I am hearing is that we are doing a better job, and are further ahead today than we would have been if this type of event had happened last year,” Johnson said.

Still, Coun. Paula Fletcher, who heads up the Infrastructure and Environment Committee, said “it’s going to be a tough coupe of days” as the city completes the work.

“But I’d say we’re Torontonians and we’re tough, so we’ll make it,” she added.

Fletcher said the clearing this year is “really going much better.”

Tickets for blocking routes

Earlier, Johnson said the city will be ticketing and towing any drivers who block snow routes and prevent plows from doing the necessary work to clear streets.

The bylaw, he said, helps keep Toronto moving amid snow-clearing operations.

“It is meant to allow us to clear those for transit use. It is meant to allow us to clear those areas where parking can be a problem,” Johnson said.

He said while some of the major roads are clear, local roads “are a mess.”

“The local roads do take us longer to get to because of our priority system,” he added.

“Today is going to be continuing to make sure we get that snow pushed to the side, get to those local streets, get to that bike infrastructure, the sidewalks as well. That’s our priority for today.”

He said snow removal will likely begin in the next few days.

“Realistically, we are going to have to begin our removal operations tomorrow and into Wednesday,” he said.

“We do have to remove snow in lots of areas. We do have storage areas available. There (are) five of them across the city.”

He noted that the city has purchased new snow melters and fixed some existing ones, which will also help with capacity at storage sites.

The city is also working with the TTC to clear priority routes around streetcar stops and subway stations.

“I assume the (transit) system will come back on little by little,” he said.

“Today it is going to be slow whether you are walking, cycling, driving, or taking transit.”

Johnson encouraged Torontonians to pitch in to help one another in the wake of a “pretty historic snowfall.”

“Today, just do what we can together in Toronto to clear those sidewalks. Take care of each other,” Johnson said.

“If you do see a neighbour that needs perhaps their walkway cleared, they may have mobility issues or whatever, help out where we can. That’s the Toronto way.”

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