‘Be patient’: Montreal says it needs 10 more days to clear snow

Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante says the city cleared almost a third of the snow on its streets and sidewalks.

Mayor Valérie Plante is pleading with Montrealers to stay patient and continue collaborating with the city as it will need an extra 10 days for its snow clearing operation.

However, with snow forecast next week, it could take even longer to clear every last alleyway.

Plante said just under one third of the snow in the city has been cleared – including 60 per cent of sidewalks – though it varies from borough to borough. In areas where sidewalks aren’t clear, the road must be shared between pedestrians and drivers so motorists should be extra careful, she added.

She said she’s been hearing residents’ frustrations, but it was a “historic” snowstorm and staff have been working around the clock to clear roads.

“We live in a dense city, there’s lots of cars on the road, we have to dump snow in depots. We know what we’re doing but it will take time. There’s a lot of snow, it’s compact, so it’s taking effort,” Plante told journalists Friday.

She said Montreal has 10,000 kilometres of roads and sidewalks to clear, and since snow can’t be left on people’s lawns it has to be loaded into trucks and brough to one of the city’s 10 depots.

Plante spoke to journalists at the Angrignon depot, which can fit 800 Olympic swimming pools’ worth of snow piled up into 30-metre mountains.

About half the snow the city is used to seeing in a whole year fell in the span of a week – some six million cubic metres of snow needs to be moved. The city moves about 12 million cubic metres in an average winter.

City spokesperson Philippe Sabourin reiterated that cars left on the street have been slowing down operations.

“Please, move your cars!” he said.

Garbage collection to resume Monday

After cancelling garbage collection this last week, the city said it will resume Monday.

Sabourin reminded residents not to leave garbage bags in snowbanks to protect the city’s snowblowers and trucks.

Garbage collection might be tricky in areas not fully cleared, but Sabourin said “we will do the impossible if we have to.”

Labour laws must be respected

The city said to expect a slowdown in snow clearing over the weekend as blue-collar workers need to take a break. Some 3,000 employees and 2,500 trucks were deployed in the last operation.

Sabourin stressed that breaks are taken in rotation, so snow clearing won’t come to a full halt.

Some employees have been working six days in a row, doing 12-hour shifts and 70-hour weeks. The city must follow labour laws which require a 24-hour break for employees and drivers.

“They have to rest, they have to be vigilant,” said Sabourin.

Private companies will also maintain operations at a slower pace.