City rolls out winter snow plow plan

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The City of Saint John has a few new tricks up its sleeves to deal with another snow plowing season.

Portable weather stations, holding on to old plows to boost available equipment, changing streets to one-side parking and an added penalty under the city’s snow removal bylaw are all initiatives the city is taking to make this winter’s snow clearing run more smoothly.

“We plow enough vehicle lanes to drive to Moncton and back four times and enough sidewalks to run five marathons each and every storm,” said Tim O’Reilly, the city’s director of public works, at a council meeting on Tuesday.

“We’re very challenged in terms of being able to deliver consistency depending on the intensity of the winter.”

According to city staff, the city is responsible for plowing 1,150 lane kilometres of roads and 225 kilometres of sidewalks, stretching available resources thin. Each of the city’s 44 plow routes gets a dedicated staff member and equipment, O’Reilly said. There are no extras.

Under the city’s winter management plan, streets and sidewalks are divided between five priority levels, depending on type of roadway, route and usage, setting out the order in which streets and sidewalks are cleared and to what degree.

We plow enough vehicle lanes to drive to Moncton and back four times and enough sidewalks to run five marathons each and every storm.

Tim O’Reilly

Last winter was “fairly light overall,” O’Reilley said, with a total of six storms, only one of which could be labeled severe. While the city was largely able to meet service levels at between 90 and 100 per cent for streets and sidewalk clearing throughout the season, O’Reilly noted that a storm on Jan. 24 saw 84 per cent of targets met on sidewalks.

That 16 per cent remaining is the equivalent of about 40 kilometres of sidewalks, O’Reilly said.

“We do have to appreciate that people use these streets and use these sidewalks, so every percentage point below 100 per cent is a time more than what’s acceptable for pedestrians that are waiting to have the sidewalks cleared or a road that’s cleared for motorists,” he said.

In order to better hit service levels during the 2023-2024 season, the city is leasing five portable, solar-powered weather stations. These, O’Reilly said, will help determine more accurately how many resources are required during a snowfall by measuring things like temperature, pavement temperature and humidity. One weather station will be placed in each of the city’s four quadrants, with a fifth dedicated to sidewalk data, he said.

This winter, a first since sustainability cuts in 2020, Saint John will have a few backup plows, with plans to save four plows from being decommissioned. Under current operations, O’Reilly said that each of the city’s 33 street routes – 35 kilometres each – and 11 sidewalk routes – 20 kilometres apiece – are assigned only one plow, meaning if one is down, there is nothing to replace it.

With six replacement plows arriving this year, O’Reilly said the city will keep four of the old ones to serve as backup, but noted they come with additional upkeep costs.

“This is not a perfect situation,” O’Reilly said. “The ideal situation would have been decommissioned completely.”

Employee turnover and supply chain delays continue to cause challenges, O’Reilly added.

This year will also see five new streets switched to one-side-only, on-street parking.

Council voted in favour of the first two readings of a bylaw amendment on Tuesday to add Celebration Street, Christopher Court, Polaris Court, Spring Street and St. Paul Street to a list of streets limiting on street parking to one side.

Public works and transportation commissioner Michael Hugenholtz told council the listed streets “are very narrow, and historically have had vehicles parking on both sides that has hampered our ability to effectively plow these streets and collect solid waste in the summer months.”

Council also passed the first two readings of a replacement to the city’s snow removal bylaw, which now includes an administrative penalty of between $150 and $300 for people who push snow onto city streets and sidewalks, which city staff says can cause service delays when replowing is required.

While the bylaw has been around since 2009, O’Reilly said the current iteration has been “very cumbersome in terms of the legal requirements.”

“The idea is that besides going up and talking to people, we’ll be able to get you an administrative penalty at the same time, which again creates that additional incentive to change the behaviour next time,” he said, noting enforcement may still be a challenge with resources stretched thin.

While currently the city commits to clearing 55 per cent of its sidewalks under its in winter management plan, the city’s 10-year strategic plan sets out to boost the number up to 75 per cent by 2027, which O’Reilly said is equivalent to 90 more kilometres.

“It’s going to be significant.”