Laval deploys 5,000 smart parking signs, invests $25M to boost winter operations

The City of Laval has installed thousands of remote-controlled parking signs and is investing $25 million to modernize its snow-clearing operations.

The City of Laval is rolling out 5,000 fully remote-controlled smart parking signs and investing $25 million in its snow-removal service to improve how it manages winter operations.

“Effective snow removal and safe streets are essential for Laval residents. That is why, even in a challenging budgetary context, we have chosen to invest in making our fleet more efficient and sustainable,” Mayor Stéphane Boyer said.

“These improvements, combined with the deployment of new technologies such as dynamic traffic signs, will enable us to offer even better service to the public this winter and in the years to come.”

Laval plans to modernize its snow-removal fleet by 2027 and is acquiring new equipment for sidewalk clearing and new-generation spreaders to replace aging machinery. Once complete, the fleet will be worth about $40 million.

The city has already purchased 14 trucks with interchangeable boxes—vehicles that can shift from paving or tanker use in summer to loader trucks in winter—at a cost of $7 million, along with four new snow blowers worth $800,000.

Thirty-five sidewalk snow-removal vehicles will be delivered in 2026 under a recently awarded $9.5-million service contract that also covers four years of maintenance. Laval also plans to purchase 19 salt trucks by 2027, following a call for tenders to be issued on Dec. 16. That acquisition is expected to cost roughly $7 million.

Smart parking signs

The solar-powered smart parking signs have been installed in Laval’s most densely populated area, between Highways 13, 19 and 440, and the Rivière des Prairies.

“This investment will enable the city to make its street maintenance operations much less disruptive by limiting their impact on street parking,” the city said.

The signs light up a few hours before a street-maintenance operation to indicate when parking is prohibited, and turn off once the street is cleared. Parking restrictions are also synchronized with the Info-Stationnement app, which the city says has been optimized this year.

“This solution, developed in Quebec, was selected after a pilot project evaluated based on citizen satisfaction. A survey of participants revealed that 98.4 per cent consider the new signs to be clear and easy to understand,” the city said.

According to city officials, Laval is the first municipality in Quebec to adopt this technology.