By Keely Grasser
The city may soon be clearing the snow banks left by plows at the end of residential driveways. City council’s transportation committee is looking into developing a pilot project to provide the service.
Joe Szadkowski lives near the intersection of Christie and Cambridge streets. He says he thinks it’s an excellent idea to remove the snow piles left at the end of driveways, known as windrows. “They inconvenience people. They make it harder,” he says.
Since there is no parking on Szadkowski’s side of the street, plows frequently throw snow on his driveway. “It’s a pain,” he says. “You stand there and have just plowed your driveway, and the plow goes by, and the driver just shrugs his shoulders.”
Coun. Alex Cullen is behind the idea. He says there’s great response, especially among older residents. “Seniors are most particularly interested because they find these windrows a challenge to deal with.”
Cullen says it’s time for the city to look into ways to remove the windrows. There are several methods available. Plows can be outfitted with special attachments or smaller machinery can be used to clean up the windrows.
There’s been interest in the idea before. The city estimated in 2003 that it would cost $21 million to buy 800 front-end loaders to follow plows. “What has stopped us in the past are the cost estimates,” he says, adding that other studies have put the cost at $9.5 million. “What we need to do is to take a look and see what is cheap and most effective.”
“There are cities capable of dealing with this and not breaking the bank,” Cullen says, adding that Almonte, Winnipeg and Toronto are municipalities that clean up windrows.
North York started removing windrows in the ‘90s. After Toronto’s amalgamation, the service was expanded city-wide.
Toronto’s streets are cleared with regular plows. “Then within one hour, a separate, smaller truck plow or separate piece of equipment . . . pushes the windrow to one side of the driveway,” explains Peter Noehammer, director of Toronto’s transportation services.
This is only done for residential areas, he says. However, some problems do exist. Windrows can’t be removed if the street is too narrow or has too many parked cars.
Toronto removes the windrows from about 260,000 driveways, at a cost of between $7 and $8 million a year. Regardless of cost, it’s an important service, Noehammer says.
“In terms of when this item comes up during the budget, all of the councilors say they don’t want that service cut because their customers appreciate it.”
Ottawa’s transportation council will discuss the pilot project during its monthly meeting on Feb. 15. The public will have a chance to give input at the meeting. If given the go-ahead and passed by council, the project will test a variety of methods for effectiveness and cost, beginning next winter.