Toronto digs out, again: Clean-up continues after major snowfall

Clean-up continues in Toronto after another blast of winter weather blanketed the city in as much as 24 centimetres of snow.

The snow storm picked up early Wednesday and ended by the early evening, but left treacherous conditions on roads and sidewalks in its wake.

According to the city, plowing and salting was completed on major arterial and collector roads overnight. Crews will continue the work “where required” on Thursday, but most of the work on local roads was expected to have been completed by 2 p.m.

A second round of salting and plowing was applied on sidewalks across the city, as well.

Pearson International Airport saw 18 centimetres of snow fall by Wednesday night; however other parts of the city saw accumulations of more than 20 centimetres.

The mid-week storm topped a previous snowfall record of 12.4 centimetres, set back in 2013.

Mark Mills, the city’s superintendent of road operations, described the efforts as an “all hands on deck” operation.

The latest winter wallop comes amid an apparent spike in calls to 311 about winter operations.

The City of Toronto confirmed to CP24 on Thursday that complaints about snow clearing and salting, between Jan. 1 and Feb. 19, topped 20,000, compared to 7,046 during the same stretch last year.

The flood of calls marks a 185 per cent increase.

Calls during that same period for laneway salting climbed to 34, from two last year. Complaints to 311 about sidewalk snow-clearing more than tripled.

Over the past few months, the city has seen a series of major winter storms. In the aftermath, residents have taken to social media to express frustration about unplowed sidewalks and snow-covered bike lakes.

Ombudsman Susan Opler addressed the concerns earlier this month, noting that there appears to be an issue with the “quality of service” the city has provided in regards to snow removal in different parts of the city.

Opler said she was “monitoring” the situation closely.

Mayor John Tory has also asked staff to review the city’s winter operations management. The review is expected to come back to council in the spring.

He previously asked residents to “be reasonable” with their expectations for snow clean up, pointing to the effort it takes to keep up with back-to-back storms.

In Cabbagetown on Thursday morning, some residents tried to do a neighbourly deed by shoveling snow from around cars parked on the street.

“When they come by and plow, it creates these mounds of snow that are wet and then they freeze, and then it’s possible to get over them,” Cynthia Young said.

While the side street clean-up is still underway, in some parts of the city, there is only so much space left to put the snow. The messy work has made street parking a challenge, residents say.

“We have nowhere to move the snow,” said Gail, who did not provide her last name. “The plows come by and they plow all the cars in, and then we have to dig them all out.”

The dissatisfaction with snow removal services was brought to light Thursday in a new Forum Research survey.

The poll randomly sampled 1,077 Toronto residents over the age of 18 between Feb. 21 and Feb. 22.

It found that 55 per cent of Torontonians polled are “unsatisfied” with the work done by the city to keep sidewalks clear of snow and ice and about 45 per cent are satisfied.

In terms of keeping roads plowed, about 55 per cent of participants indicated they were satisfied with the city’s work, while about 46 per cent said the opposite.

Of note, the survey asked respondents whether they believe the thresholds set by the city about when plowing main roadways should begin should be lowered. Currently, plows set out only after five centimetres of snow has built up on major roads and two centimetres on expressways.

About 60 per cent of respondents said they believed it should be lowered.

The poll is considered accurate plus or minus three per cent, 19 times out of 20.