Cold temperatures are breaking records
The early start to snow season and the exceptional cold are breaking century-long records. Normal temperatures this time of year are 6°C daytime, –1°C overnight.
The mayor says it’s not true that city hall ordered bike paths cleared before sidewalks, and if it’s happened in a few places it’s only because the snow machines happened to come along in that order.
Chris 10:07 on 2019-11-14 Permalink
We have lots of sidewalks. On both sides of nearly every street. We have comparatively only a handful of bike lanes. It wouldn’t make sense for 100% of sidewalks to be cleared before they start any bike lane. So of course some bike lanes will be cleared before some sidewalks.
Raymond Lutz 10:08 on 2019-11-14 Permalink
Global warming mon oeil! It’s a hoax… https://climatereanalyzer.org/wx/DailySummary/#t2anom
Tim S. 11:05 on 2019-11-14 Permalink
Chris, we have more sidewalks because 1) everybody needs the sidewalk to get out of their house/apartment/destination and 2) there are far more pedestrians than cyclists.
Remember, without cleared sidewalks, there’s no way for a cyclist to get to the bike path, or from the bike path to their destination.
Kate 11:17 on 2019-11-14 Permalink
Tim S., I don’t think Chris was maintaining that we should have sidewalk-bikepath parity.
nau 12:11 on 2019-11-14 Permalink
It’s false that “without cleared sidewalks, there’s no way for a cyclist to get to the bike path”. One simply uses the road (where one is supposed to bike anyway), which on my street at least is always plowed well before the sidewalks.
Michael Black 12:24 on 2019-11-14 Permalink
The point is that “walking” is a basic. You can’t go far without walking even a little bit. That includes car drivers, because at some point they have to get out of their cars to do.something.
I put walking in quotes because someone getting around in a wheelchair is closer to walking than driving. In fact, that makes sidewalks even more important, since a blocked sidewalk will be more trouble for someone using a wheelchair.
Sidewalks shouldn’t come second to bike paths, especially since snowfall will lower the number if cyclists even more. This debate is silly, because way too often sidewalks get cleared after streets.
Blork 12:29 on 2019-11-14 Permalink
Oh, the fog of social media comments.
Tim S. is incorrect when he says “Remember, without cleared sidewalks, there’s no way for a cyclist to get to the bike path, or from the bike path to their destination.” That is incorrect because anyone intrepid enough to be biking in winter is intrepid enough to slog through a few feet of uncleared sidewalk to get to the bike path. Uncleared sidewalks generally aren’t impassable — especially if you’re just crossing one to get to the street or bike path. They’re only inconvenient or somewhat impassible if you need to continue along the sidewalk instead of just crossing over it.
nau is both correct and incorrect; correct in pointing out that Tim S. is incorrect, but incorrect in everything else because they seem to be missing the point (see my Tim S comment above).
I should start a blog that does nothing other than deconstruct social media comments…
Kate 12:47 on 2019-11-14 Permalink
Blork, the sidewalks here often have high berms plowed up next to the road. Getting across them can be a real pain, involving stepping into a foot of snow or more. The first day of our snowfall, I was forced to step into a snowpile up to my knees as I boarded a bus.
jeather 13:42 on 2019-11-14 Permalink
Tuesday I was trying to get off a packed bus, and we all had to shove our ways to the front because the wall of snow at the back was so giant.
Tim S. 15:06 on 2019-11-14 Permalink
Sigh. I was simply trying to point out to cyclists that they too rely on sidewalks. Apparently I was wrong to try to find common ground.
Blork: “Uncleared sidewalks generally aren’t impassable.” Blork, have you tried getting around this city with a small child or an older, or disabled, adult? I do, every day, and it’s turned me into a bit of a zealot for the importance of safe, cleared sidewalks.
Blork 15:22 on 2019-11-14 Permalink
Tim S (and Kate), you’re missing my point. I’m not talking about getting around the city with a small child or a disabled adult. I’m talking (and so were you) about the hardcore cyclists who would consider cycling the day after a snowstorm when the streets have not yet been fully cleared. People like that will not be slowed down by a one metre stretch of sidewalk that isn’t cleared, even if there’s a metre high berm in the way.
I am ONLY disputing the assertion that an unplowed sidewalk would stop an intrepid cyclist from plunging through it to get to the street (or cycle path).
The fact that unplowed sidewalks present a difficulty for regular pedestrians is not in dispute.
j2 09:35 on 2019-11-15 Permalink
Snowfall is a flow variable which means that maybe the sidewalks were cleaned first but snowing continued.
There was a picture that Kristian Gravenor (sp?) posted last year that was exactly that, plus one from NDG that contrasted the clear downtown bike path with a sidewalk covered in snow – from people clearing cars.
nau 09:46 on 2019-11-15 Permalink
Tim S. Well, you wouldn’t need to look for common ground if you didn’t assume that the interests of cyclists and pedestrians are opposed. Nobody in the thread was advocating that bike paths be given snow clearance priority over sidewalks, and anecdotally, the cyclists in my neighbourhood are more likely to also walk around it than the people with cars, so I would think it odd if any significant number of cyclists (most of whom don’t bike in the winter anyway) could be found elsewhere demanding that.