Toronto Winter Road Operations

Toronto – The City of Toronto has a comprehensive snow and ice response plan that prioritizes safety and mobility above all else, particularly for emergency and transit vehicles.

Snowfall in Toronto

• Winter weather typically occurs in Toronto between November and March, with most of the snow falling in January and February.
• Toronto receives approximately 130 cm of snowfall each winter.
• A typical snowstorm in Toronto results in snow accumulations of five to 10 centimetres.
• The City monitors the weather forecast using independent winter weather forecasting services, data collected from the City’s Road Weather Information System weather stations, and road temperature sensors on patrolling trucks.
• The most appropriate method to deal with a winter storm is selected based on the timing and duration of the storm, the amount of accumulated snowfall and prevailing forecast.
• Snow and ice clearing includes anti-icing (liquid brine application), salting and plowing. In addition to these major winter service operations, crews will clear windrows at the end of eligible driveways and ensure that catch-basins, drains and culverts work properly to prevent flooding when the snow melts.

Amount of infrastructure maintained by the City

• 14,700 lane kilometres of roads
• 316 kilometres of laneways (salting only)
• 7,900 kilometres of sidewalks
• 486 lane kilometres of cycling infrastructure (including separated bike lanes and multi-use trails)

Liquid salt brine

• The application of liquid salt brine (also known as direct liquid application) on expressways, hills, bridges and other high-priority locations (major intersections) before snow falls prevents the formation of frost, reduces slipperiness and helps to keep salt from spreading too randomly.
• Salt brine is typically applied 12 hours before snowfall.
• The residue from salt brine can appear on the roadway as white stripes.

Salting

• When snow starts to fall, road salt is applied to melt some snow and prevent ice from forming. Road salt also improves traction and makes future plowing operations more efficient.
• Depending on the severity of the weather, more than one round of salting may occur.
• Between 130,000 and 150,000 tonnes of road salt is typically used during winter road maintenance operations each year.
• The City applies salt to 18 pedestrian bridges in Toronto. Other pedestrian bridges are located in environmentally sensitive areas and cannot be salted.
• The City is aware of the risks of road salt to the environment and although there is ongoing research into the use of alternatives, road salt continues to be the most cost-effective de-icer across Canada.
• The reduction in salt use is balanced with the need to keep roads and sidewalks safe for users at a reasonable cost.
• The City prepares a Salt Management Plan annually, which audits existing salt spreading uses to determine what improvements can be considered.
• Sand is not used in the City’s winter operations. Sand is used primarily in areas where winter temperatures are colder than in Toronto. Sand is beneficial in these colder areas because it provides grit for traction. Toronto’s warmer climate allows for the effective use of salt, which melts ice and snow and improves the efficiency of clearing operations.
• Timelines and desired outcome of salting operations:

* Bare pavement: denotes fully cleared snow from a surface.

** Centre bare: indicates 2.5 cm of snow is cleared from the centre surface.

*** Safe and passable: is a surface that is free from as much ice and snow as needed for the surface to be travelled safely at a reasonable speed.

Snow clearing

• Plows clear roads when the snow accumulates to:

• • 2.5 cm on expressways
  • five centimeters on major roads and transit routes
  • eight centimeters on residential streets

• Expressways, arterials, collectors and TTC routes are plowed first to provide citywide linkages for emergency vehicles and transit access.
• The majority of plowing takes place overnight when the roads, sidewalks and bikeways are quieter. This increases safety and prepares infrastructure for the morning commute.

• Windrow clearing is provided to eligible streets and typically begins 14 hours after the snow stops falling; after all plowing operations are completed.
• Timelines and desired outcome of snow plowing operations:

* Bare pavement: denotes fully cleared snow from a surface.

** Centre bare: indicates 2.5 cm of snow is cleared from the centre surface.

*** Safe and passable: is a surface that is free from as much ice and snow as needed for the surface to be travelled safely at a reasonable speed.

Snow clearing – sidewalks, bus stops and pedestrian crossovers

• Crews start clearing all public sidewalks at two centimeters of snow accumulation, which involves simultaneously plowing and salting operations. At least two rounds of sidewalk clearing are required after a typical winter storm.
  • Each round of sidewalk clearing takes approximately 12 hours to complete. Therefore, it can take 24-48 hours to clear all sidewalks if multiple rounds are required.
  • 95 per cent of all public sidewalks receive mechanical sidewalk snow clearing. Due to sidewalk obstructions and narrow spaces, the remaining sidewalks are manually cleared by workers.
• Crews clear snow and ice at transit stops, crosswalks, laneway entrances, bridge steps and school loading zones.
  • An initial opening is completed and then a more thorough clearing is conducted within one to three days after the storm. This allows for all snow windows left behind by plows to be cleared at the same time.
• Timelines and desired outcome of snow plowing operations on sidewalks, bus stops and pedestrian crossovers:

Snow clearing – bikeways

• Crews clear all cycling infrastructure at two centimeters of snow accumulation, which involves simultaneously plowing and salting operations.
• The following multi-use trails are also cleared of snow at two centimetres of snow accumulation:
  • Martin Goodman Trail
  • Humber Bay Waterfront Trail
  • Finch Hydro Corridor Trail
  • Eglinton Avenue West Trail
  • Gatineau Hydro Corridor Trail
• Timelines and desired outcome of snow plowing operations on separated cycle tracks and multi-use paths:

Snow clearing – resident responsibilities

• Property owners must clear sidewalks adjacent to their property of snow and ice if less than two centimeters of snow accumulates. This clearing should be completed within 12 hours of the end of snowfall.
• Property owners must clear other private property (e.g., driveways, walkways, stairs, ramps) within 24 hours of the end of snowfall.
• The fine for not clearing snow from public and private property is $500 plus a $115 surcharge, for a total of $615.
• Residents are required to remove snow from around all municipal fire hydrants in a timely manner without damaging the hydrant.

Snow removal

• Snow removal (picking up snow and moving it away) and snow clearing (plowing and salting) are different City services.
• When the City receives unusually large amounts of snow, the windrows (snow piles) can restrict traffic flow, interfere with pedestrian infrastructure and parking, and obstruct sightlines. When this happens, the City collects the snow and moves it to designated snow storage sites.
• There are five snow storage and three snow melter sites in Toronto.

Budget and contracts

• The City’s 2025 winter maintenance budget is approximately $160 million, pending City Council’s approval of the 2025 budget.
  • The budget includes contracts, salt, an education campaign, staff standby and mechanical sidewalk clearing staff costs.
• City Council has approved 11 consolidated contracts for the delivery of winter maintenance services for all roads, bikeways and sidewalks within a precise geographic zone (4).
• The 11 new contracts took effect in November 2022 and will continue for seven years, with three additional single option years.
• Each supplier is accountable for executing all the winter maintenance services within their awarded zone.

Snow clearing equipment

• The City’s winter operations fleet (in-house and vendors) is made up of more than 1,400 industry standard vehicles.
• Contractors are required to deliver their snow clearing equipment to City yards and depots in the following phases:
  • October 15 – Direct Liquid Application (DLA) trucks
  • November 8 – salt trucks
  • December 1 – plows
• Crews are on standby 24 hours a day, seven days a week and can quickly and strategically mobilize when a winter storm approaches.

Details about clearing timelines and service levels is available on the City’s website: www.toronto.ca/snow. Residents can track the location of plows and salt trucks and find out which streets have been recently cleared on the PlowTO map: www.toronto.ca/PlowTO.