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Toronto spent nearly $1 million to remove snow primarily along the curb lanes of the Don Valley Parkway and Gardiner Expressway to prevent deadly car crashes this winter, city staff say.
The city entered into an emergency contract with Webber Infrastructure Management Canada Ltd., a winter maintenance service provider, because snow on the edges of the two major roadways could have acted like ramps, with potentially fatal consequences, transportation services staff told Toronto city council’s general government committee on Monday.
If drivers had driven onto the snow packed in the curb lanes, their vehicles could have been launched into the air and onto the other side of the guard rails, according to Myles Currie, director of winter and seasonal services for the city’s transportation services division.
Currie pointed to a deadly car crash in Kitchener, Ont. that happened on Jan. 26, when a driver, a 38-year-old Waterloo woman, drove onto a snowbank on the Highway 7 flyover ramp. Her vehicle fell onto the highway below and she died at the scene.
In a report to the committee, city staff said Toronto signed the contract to remove the snow after two major January snowfalls. About 60 centimetres fell on Toronto from a storm on Jan. 25, and about 30 centimetres had accumulated from a storm on Jan. 14 and 15.
“The volume and rapid accumulation of snow exceeded the capacity of existing internal and contracted snow removal resources,” the report reads.
“Not proceeding with this contract would have prolonged cleanup times and extended the associated impacts, including heightened safety risks and disruption to essential travel for residents, businesses, and emergency services.”
According to Ashley Curtis, general manager of the city’s transportation services division, the city has five designated snow dump sites with protections to ensure runoff, when the snow melts, doesn’t cause property damage. (Evan Mitsui/CBC)
Currie said the money paid for a snow blower, front end loaders, skid steers and dump trucks, equipment operators and a team supervisor, at an hourly rate. Staff also said the snow removal on the two highways enabled the city to divert its existing snow clearing and snow removal resources elsewhere.
Snow removal ‘a good thing,’ councillor says
Coun. Michael Thompson, who represents Scarborough Centre, said the snow removal on the major roads was good news.
“This is a good thing,” Thompson told the committee. “It saved a lot people aggravation, moved the snow, getting out of the way, people were able to walk.”
Ashley Curtis, general manager of the city’s transportation services division, said the city has five designated snow dump sites with protections to ensure runoff, when the snow melts, doesn’t cause property damage.
Curtis said staff will bring a report to the committee later this year with lessons learned from the snow removal and recommendations for next winter. He said staff hope to develop a roster of contractors so that future contracts for this kind of snow removal could be competitive.
Curtis added the snow removal was better in Toronto than in previous years but the city could still improve when it comes to responding to snowstorms.