Montreal City Weblog

Kate 10:49 on 2023-01-30 Permalink Reply  

• Joey 11:11 on 2023-01-30 Permalink

  The snow stopped on Thursday morning, yet the city only got around to plowing some of the major arteries (e.g., Parc, St-Laurent, St-Urbain, St-Joseph) yesterday. Is it just me or does it seem like the city is taking longer to start its snow removal this year? I thought it was because the first two big storms happened on Fridays, which might have meant lots of overtime $ if removal started right away, but this most recent experience undermines that logic.

  Anyway, I get what they are going for but there’s been so much snow this week, I don’t think they can hold off much longer (and there are crews currently doing snow removal, notwithstanding the story)… like the piles on street corners are just too big, cars are parked too far out into the street, etc.

• Kate 11:14 on 2023-01-30 Permalink

  I know. I’m even wondering how Lufa will get my box of groceries over the massive pile of snow between the road and my front steps.

  The Weather Network says we’re close to the record for snowfall in January.

• Kevin 11:43 on 2023-01-30 Permalink

  This weekend as we were walking around, my wife and I helped multiple seniors get out of snowbanks because they were stuck and could not get to the sidewalk.

  I expect snow removal to be terrible following the first storm of the season as crews and managers relearn this essential task, but removal has been so bad this year that I am wondering if it’s deliberate.

  This morning bus lanes weren’t cleared, there were lanes on thoroughfares that were impassable, and multiple streets where school buses let out students haven’t been cleared.

• jeather 11:58 on 2023-01-30 Permalink

  How do you plow snow but not remove it? All you get is street icebergs which can’t be removed until they melt in the spring.

• mare 13:15 on 2023-01-30 Permalink

  The courtesy of citizens to clear (and keep up) the passages from the street to the sidewalk seems to have been lost some time ago. This despite the fact that a lot of people have cordoned off their carré des arbres, to prevent the chenillettes from removing the snow (and top soil with plant roots). In that case I think [old person waves cane] that you have the duty to do some snow maintenance.

  My neighbour and I are virtually the only people that do this on a large stretch of our street, so we have four passages over 20 metres, and we don’t even have a car or park on the street. [Insert self-righteous pat on our backs…]

  The main reason I do it so I can get the compost, recycling and garbage bins to the street. And my bike if I’m lucky and there’s an opening in between the cars.
  Few openings at the moment because people only do the bare minimum when digging out their cars and leave a lot of snow behind when they drive away. They shoot themselves in the foot because there will be less parking spaces available when they come back, and they’ll have to drive around in circles and be lucky to find a spot nearby.

  (Unpopular opinion) I personally think the city should spend less money on snow removal of *free* street parking. Let car owners do more themselves. Montreal’s yearly snow removal budget of 160+ million dollars is enormous and you could do more tangible things with even part of that money. Hire more cops for example. Or reorganize streets so they’re safer for pedestrians (most drivers are pedestrians too) and cyclists.

• Kate 13:37 on 2023-01-30 Permalink

  mare, it would take me all afternoon to dig a channel out from the sidewalk to the street here today.

• jeather 14:16 on 2023-01-30 Permalink

  I wouldn’t object to digging out channels if the snow removal trucks didn’t later block them right back off.

  I do not think we need to hire more cops. At all.

• Mark Côté 14:38 on 2023-01-30 Permalink

  I get incensed by people who dig out their cars or plow their driveways and leave all the snow on the sidewalk after the chenillettes pass. It’s annoying to climb over but far worse if you have a stroller or mobility issues. Such rude, antisocial behaviour.

• mare 15:33 on 2023-01-30 Permalink

  @kate Yeah, if you start now it’s a bit much. You have to keep it up with the snowfall.

  @jeather That was sarcasm, but that obviously didn’t translate very well in an internet comment.

• jeather 16:55 on 2023-01-30 Permalink

  Sorry, because the “reorganise streets” part seemed sincere.

• Tim 21:22 on 2023-01-30 Permalink

  @mare: where is all this *free* street parking located? Montreal has lots of areas that require permits which I would not qualify as *free*…

• Ian 21:35 on 2023-01-30 Permalink

  @mare “The courtesy of citizens to clear (and keep up) the passages from the street to the sidewalk seems to have been lost some time ago.”

  I live in a Hassidic neighbourhood, they get their kids to dig those entryways and keep them clear. I chop them out with my ice cutter too.

  On another note I was quite pleased that I got to deliver my first joke in Yiddish, as I was shovelling out my walkway yesterday, a guy walking past me was talking on is phone, complaining about all the snow. I said “only a little snow” nur ayn bissel shnay. He laughed, I’m practically Mel Brooks now.

  As a car owner I have to admit I was annoyed that the scheduled day plowing was cancelled today on my street (both sides) in the evening as I had to spend a lot of time cruising around for a parking spot on a street side that wasn’t scheduled to be cleared – when in fact none of them were cleared. F’ing Great. This also means I will have to dig my car out to go to work tomorrow morning again – & even the dug out spots are starting to be full of that nasty half-snow that has the texture of mashed potatoes that is impossible to walk, drive, or bike in. When the Hassidic ladies start pulling the strollers instead of pushing them you know the snow is ridonkulous. This is where we are. Delivery trucks are just stopping wherever, not even attempting to park. It’s crazy out there.

  I’m still using the INFO-neige app – it was extremely annoying to search all over my parking zone to find a spot – only to find that in fact nothing is getting plowed tonight. Better than getting towed I suppose but I’m going to have to bring my ice cutter & good shovel 3 blocks over to get my car out at 5:30 tomorrow morning.

• Kevin 23:46 on 2023-01-30 Permalink

  The snowthrower ensemble just went down my street, followed by ANOTHER PLOW BECAUSE THEY LEFT SO MUCH BEHIND.

  I am hoping the ‘thrower returns soon.

• Joey 10:05 on 2023-01-31 Permalink

  @Kevin that’s not new – for a while now (at least a few years) the big plows have been followed by smaller plows and chenillettes to pile up most of what remains, then they haul it away.

  @Ian right there with you. Also the sirens at 6:45 AM when snow removal doesn’t actually get started until 8:15 are a nice touch.

  @mare most car owners around my street dig their cars out and leave piles of snow either in front or in back of their car, not so much on the sidewalk (though it happens). Where exactly would you have these people put the snow?

• Mark Côté 10:46 on 2023-01-31 Permalink

  @Joey assume you meant to direct that last one at me. What you described is the best case and, I should note, the most common one. We’re bound to lose a few parking spots until the snow is cleared up. But on every block there’s always a big pile of snow right in the middle of the sidewalk, presumably from someone who couldn’t even bother doing what you said and just dumps shovelfuls of snow wherever is most convenient to them.

• Kevin 12:15 on 2023-01-31 Permalink

  @Joey
  No, you misunderstand me.
  The normal procedure in NDG is a trio of plows to push the snow into a long line, with the final step being a snowthrower putting snow in a truck.

  Last night my street had plows then a snowthrower, but there was so much snow leftover they needed to run another set of plows and another snowthrower to finally clear it.

• Joey 12:28 on 2023-01-31 Permalink

  @Kevin that’s exactly how they’ve been doing it on my Mile-End street for a couple of years now – plows make a huge hedge in the middle of the street (if you’re parked ont the other side, you can’t get out). Then a few hours pass. Then the thresher comes with the dump truck next to it. It churns up the giant hedge and spits it into the dump truck. Then a regular tow truck with a plow and some chenillettes come by and pile up most of whatever got missed. Then that gets tossed into a dump truck.

  Also it feels like a good 10% of the snow being tossed into the dump truck never quite makes it in.

• Kevin 13:48 on 2023-01-31 Permalink

  Joey.
  Okay…. This is the first time in 15 years that they’ve needed to have a snowthrower come along twice on my street.

• mare 18:39 on 2023-01-31 Permalink

  I just saw a snowblower get stuck. The mountain of snow they had prepared for it was just too dense and high. It had to back up and try again, but just didn’t have enough traction. It was actually quite funny, but no one was laughing.

  @Joey @Tim In my street in rosepatrie we don’t have vignettes en a wide space between the sidewalk and the street, 4 metres or so, so plenty of space to drop the snow. And still car owners leave it on the street, and only shovel away the snow one half side of their car and then drive off. Not all streets are this wide.