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The Winter City Mayors’ Session was a first for the PIARC winter congresses. The organizers of the 13th edition felt it was important for the municipalities to have this opportunity to discuss their winter issues.
This Session focussed on the following theme: "Winter Service and the Economic Governance of Sustainable Urban Mobility". The mayors discussed their administrative policies and strategies on the recurring dilemma of the quality of the services provided to users with regard to the costs involved.
- Moderator, Mr. Liguori Hinse
- President of the World Road Association, Ms. Anne-Marie Leclerc
- Mayor of the City of Québec, Mr. Régis Labeaume
- Mayor of Andorra la Vella, Ms. Maria Rosa Ferrer
- Mayor of the Montreal Borough of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Mr. Michael Applebaum
Mayors and Delegates, it gives me pleasure to lead this session. This morning, we’ll be hearing from Mr. Régis Labeaume, Mayor of the City of Québec, Ms. Rosa Ferrer, Mayor of Andorra la Vella, and Mr. Michael Applebaum, Mayor of the Borough of Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce in Montréal. To start this morning’s session, let’s welcome Ms. Anne-Marie Leclerc, President of the World Road Association, to say a few words.
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It's an honour and a pleasure for me to open this session for mayors of cities who have to deal with winter conditions that are challenging for municipal services. The snow, ice and snow storm conditions are often unpredictable and increasingly extreme. They require maintenance teams to be both adaptable and ingenious. I want to first commend the willingness of the Mayor of the City of Québec, Mr. Régis Labeaume, to whom we owe this first Mayors’ Session, organized for this Winter Road Congress. |
Mr. Mayor, I want you to know that the World Road Association recognizes the strategic role of cities and integrates all of your concerns in its work.
The mobility of people and goods throughout their city is at the forefront of municipal services. Ensuring this urban mobility is a huge challenge for maintaining the social and economic activity of population centres. It is often dependent on an urban fabric from another time and the particular characteristics of transportation infrastructure are often irreconcilable with the new realities. The investment needed to ensure transportation services and for their adaptation, improvement or maintenance is significant.
The Association's work, in which many cities participate, mainly focuses on the aspects for improving mobility in urban areas. We cover the integration of various modes, land use, soft mobility and many themes that municipalities are concerned with.
The improvement of mobility in urban areas requires planners to have a better understanding of the modes chosen by citizens and the obstacles to integrating alternate, non-motorized, modes. It is this work highlights the creative spirit of leaders in developing and deploying solutions and original management processes to improve the effectiveness of this mobility.
This vision and this dynamic that, a hundred years ago, pushed governments from all continents to unite within a world association to reflect together, share and find solutions to current problems. It is this process of cooperation in a crucial area for the future of cities that we invite you to today.
You will discuss sustainable mobility, a vital issue for cities. Innovative ideas and options will no doubt come out of this session. The results will certainly contribute to the implementation efforts for sustainable urban mobility.
Today's meeting confirms the importance of dealing with winter and takes into account the challenges that this season brings.
In this period where everyone knows the importance of action, I am convinced that all the mayors of these large cities will be aware of this demonstration of the power of coming together and the work of the World Road Association will surely interest them.
Thank you mayors, Minister. Have a good session! Thank you.
Moderator:
It is my great pleasure now to introduce you mayor of the City of Québec, Mr. Régis Labeaume. Mr. Labeaume, a graduate of Laval University in sociology, was elected the 37th mayor of the City of Québec on December 2, 2007. Before that, Mr. Labeaume headed the Fondation de l’entrepreneurship. From 2000 to 2003, he was project leader for Cité de l’Optique, a development centre for optics and photonics. He sat on the board of directors of Innovatech, the Québec Government’s risk capital corporation, from 1997 to 2005 and then on the board of Hydro-Québec until 2006. He was also on the board of TSO3, which operates in the field of sterilization of medical devices, and a graduate of the Collège des administrateurs de sociétés [college of corporate directors]. Mayor Labeaume was until recently co-owner of Réadaptation Québec, a network of rehabilitation centres. He was founding president of the Société minière Mazarin - a mining company, and chairman of the board of Bell Asbestos Mines. He also worked as a consultant for foreign companies wishing to establish themselves in Québec. Throughout his professional career, Mr. Labeaume has been involved in the social and cultural life of the City of Québec and the surrounding region. He has chaired or been a member of several boards, including the Centre d’information et de référence de la Capitale nationale [capital city information and reference centre], the World Youth Congress, Constellation 2001 - a television production company, the National Council of Small Business, the Laval University Foundation, Pignon Bleu - a family services organization, the City of Québec Summer Festival, the Fernand Dumont Chair in Culture, the Boîte à science [children’s science centre], the City of Québec Junior Achievement, the Foundation of the Québec Fine Arts Museum, and the Québec Mining Association. He is also co-author of the book “Les innovations dans le monde minier au Québec” about innovations in mining in Québec, and co-author of “Comment acheter une PME”, a guide to buying a small business. Please welcome Mayor Régis Labeaume.
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Please let me once again welcome you to the City of Québec, a premiere winter city, a world heritage city, a city that promotes its history but is also, of course, forward thinking. In Québec we like winter so much that, for the last 56 years, we have celebrated it each year in what has become the biggest winter party in the world, the Québec Carnival. We are a city that celebrates winter in the biggest way in the world and we are very proud. We are never without snow here! |
I would also like to welcome you to the very first mayors’ session at the Winter Road Congress. Over the next hour, I will have the pleasure of joining Ms. Ferrer and Mr. Applebaum, Vice Chair of the City of Montréal Executive Committee, to talk to you about the issue of urban mobility in winter conditions.
The purpose of this session is to allow municipal representatives to share certain aspects of their experiences with you. I hope you appreciate these observations, which come from the elected officials responsible for making travel safe and efficient for their residents all winter long while keeping to a strict budget.
Québec is a city where winter goes on from mid-November to mid-April and sometimes longer, but very rarely less. A winter in the City of Québec is on average many months per year:Winter in the City of Québec is:
- 300 cm of snow, statistically, on average;
- over 100 days with snow precipitation;
- over 175 days during which the minimum temperature is below freezing;
- around 30 days during which the minimum temperature drops below minus 20 degrees Celsius;
- temperatures that can go from minus 25 degrees Celsius to over 3 degrees Celsius in a few hours. At over 3 degrees in a few hours, here we call that cold shock;
- and add to that, almost constant winds, rain and ice events, and you have some idea of what our winter is like here.
I invite you to visit the City of Québec stand to get some idea of how much snow that is. We illustrated it very well in the stand.
Like other citizens in winter cities, the people of City of Québec have a love-hate relationship with winter. But beyond these ambivalent emotions, there is mostly a need to live with winter and this is what Quebecers have been doing for hundreds of years, now, for 401 years.
To live well with winter and appreciate it in any way, we have to minimize its impact on travel. If travel is not possible like for example, in Washington currently, or if there are slow downs, all the economic, social, sport and cultural activities feel the effects. This is why we are so proud of how quickly we can clear 2,550 km of our road network here in the City of Québec. A few hours after a major snowfall, the City of Québec’s main lanes of traffic are completely cleared. Over the last 20 years, winter has never, ever, paralyzed the City of Québec!
However, snow removal for a city like Québec is no small feat. We are talking about over 24.4 million square meters, which for the Europeans is equivalent to over 3000 soccer fields. Maintenance of the 2,550 km of road network is divided into 144 snow removal areas, 97 of which are cleared by City of Québec employees and 47 by private contractors. Each winter, the transportation of 4 million cubic meters of snow to the snow dumps requires around 530 heavy trucks for each operation. The 2,550 km of streets and the 1,078 km of sidewalks are ploughed with the help of 611 special vehicles of all kinds like snowblowers, graders, spreader trucks or snowplows.
All of these machines are driven and maintained by hundreds of people. In fact, each snow removal operation involves 673 municipal employees and 461 employees from private companies. We have an annual budget of around $60 million for snow removal and the maintenance of our road network, and allow me to salute the incredible efficiency of our city's employees who, during almost every storm, help us forget the inconveniences of winter. I would also like to express a warm appreciation of them.
And to ensure the quality of the snow removal service we provide and the commitment we have made to our citizens in our declaration of service, the City of Québec has adopted a specific policy where the main objective was to make the snow removal service consistent throughout the area. I want you to understand that in our declaration of service, the City of Québec has specifically outlined hours and days for the clearing under all these facets and we have made ourselves accountable to meet these commitments with regard to the population. So, if we do not meet them, we feel accountable and, in the same way, responsible based on our principles.
How quickly the city's road network is cleared is at the heart of the policy. Very specific targets have been set. At the time precipitation starts, the clearing of priority roadways is done and continues until the storm ends. The policy also specifies the timelines that the snow clearing teams have to meet. Therefore, the clearing of many roadways and sidewalks should be completed within a maximum of 4 hours after the end of a snowfall if there was 5 to 15 cm.
This time increases to 8 hours for a snowfall of 22 cm or more. For snow removal, the timeline is a maximum of 24 hours after the end of the snowfall if it’s between 5 and 15 cm for a priority network. This increases to 4 days if there is a snowfall of 30 cm or more.
Of course, for safety reasons and to facilitate the movement of citizens, the clearing of some roadways is prioritized, such as boulevards, main streets, bus routes, school zones and high sloped streets. Specific areas are also prioritized such as those where citizens converge to go to work in the morning or where there is a large concentration of pedestrian traffic. I also need to add that very recently, we asked the City's officers who are responsible for snow removal operations to identify throughout the City, the areas where a large concentration of elderly people live so that we can ensure that these particular areas are prioritized in the snow removal operations. And let me remind you that Québec is the second oldest city in Canada after Victoria. This is an additional service and ensures that elderly people can get around more safely. For all of these reasons, we have given ourselves the objective to prioritize areas of the City of Québec where elderly people live.
In the City of Québec, a snow removal operation is carried out in two stages: stage one, the clearing of the streets is set in motion right when precipitation starts and stage 2 is the snow removal. To complete this stage efficiently, we have to prohibit parking in the streets, which is no easy task. Generally, the prohibition of parking a vehicle in the streets is in effect during a period that starts, based on the areas, between 9:00 p.m. and midnight and ends in the morning, between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m.
To advise citizens that a snow removal operation is planned for the next few hours, the City has implemented many measures. In central neighbourhoods, a remote control system of orange blinking lights is activated at least 4 hours before the start of an operation. A telephone line allows citizens to access information if a snow removal operation is planned during the next few hours in their neighbourhood. The City of Québec also set up an Internet portal allowing citizens to subscribe to a messaging service that tells them once an operation is planned. The combination of these measures allows the majority of citizens to avoid getting a ticket and/or having their vehicle towed.
In heavily populated neighbourhoods, the City makes hundreds of temporary parking spaces available for citizens to park their vehicles during snow removal operations.
If the City and its employees do what is possible to minimize the negative effects of winter on the City of Québec's citizens’ movements, they will also be able to play a role in the application of the snow removal policy. For example, they must ensure compliance with the prohibition of parking during snow removal operations. In fact, every tow delays the operation by several minutes and results in additional costs for the City.
Our snow removal policy is dynamic and always evolving. We are currently working on reorganizing all of our snow removal activities. We have already implemented many improvement measures. Among them, I would like to highlight the following:
- new training activities to increase the performance of our heavy equipment operators. Their training is essential and is unfortunately underestimated, in terms of the increasing efficiency of our snow removal operations;
- and we are also working on having better control over illegal snow dumping in the streets;
- we want more effective management of the snow dumps;
- and the installation of range finding equipment in our vehicles to better optimize their movements and also optimize the use of ice melters and abrasives.
All of these measures aim to promote a culture and measures that will enable continued innovation and improvement of our snow removal operations and the mobilization of all the people involved in snow removal. They also aim to enlist the full cooperation of citizens in carrying out this activity that is fundamental to living in a winter city.
You need to understand that there is still a lot of room for improvement. Work and snow removal route planning, employee training, collection and analysis of management information, real time vehicle tracking, and improving our parking regulations are some of the aspects we are working on to ensure that every dollar spent on snow removal is used in the most efficient way possible.
This continuous improvement process for snow removal operations is part of a more comprehensive study on sustainable mobility in our city. A working group, chaired by Mr. Hinse, was formed on this issue and citizens will be asked to comment on a draft sustainable mobility plan in the year 2010.
I hope this plan will enable us to prevent traffic congestion, reduce pollution, and better adapt our road and pedestrian infrastructure to the new needs of the population, promote public transportation, walking and cycling. This plan will leave considerable room for environmental issues so that they influence our travel and development choices.
The environmental constraints make this a development perspective that can't be ignored, similar to the budget constraints that all public administrations are facing.
This brings me to talk briefly about the budgetary impact of winter on a city the size of Québec. This impact not only concerns snow removal, but also many activities that the City must carry out because winter is around for almost half of the year.
Every time 5.5 cm of snow falls in Québec, around $1 million, on average, of the City's budget is used! For me personally, as Mayor of the City, when I wake up and there is a minimum of between 5 and 6 cm of snow, I say to myself, we just lost $1 million, and I go on with my day. Therefore, whether it is a good year, or a bad year, the snow removal costs Québec taxpayers around $60 million. This amount is dedicated exclusively to snow removal and snow clearing operations. This is what it costs us to move around 4 million cubic metres of snow and to spread over 70,000 tons of ice melters or abrasives. This $60 million represents 5.3% of the City's operating budget, which is $1,1 billion. We consider this to be huge for a city the size of Québec.
The amount of $60 million, of course, does not include all the effects that winter has on the condition of roadways, sidewalks and other municipal equipment, the purchase and maintenance of vehicles that are only used during winter, the heating of our offices, our employee's uniforms, the maintenance of recreational equipment, etc. All of these things can raise the cost to well over $100 million per year.
The importance of this budget account and the control of its growth make it even more important and essential to continuously improve the City's snow removal activities.
This mayors’ session and the other activities that will take place during this congress I think are special opportunities to share our experiences and expertise regarding the operation of cities faced with winter conditions. I therefore hope this formula will be repeated and improved at the next Winter Road Congress, which will be hosted by the City of Andorra la Vella in 2014.
The World Road Association could also be useful as an intermediary to facilitate discussion between winter cities and encourage the use of best practices, whatever their origin.
In closing, I want to wish you success in the Congress and a nice stay in Québec, a city that fully and proudly assumes its winter city status. Thank you.
Moderator:
Our second speaker this morning is Ms. Rosa Ferrer. Having graduated in law from the University of Barcelona, she was called to the bar in Andorra. Her interest in public service led to her membership in the Andorra Renovation group in 1983. In 2001, she became one of the founders of the Social Democratic Party of Andorra, of which she is secretary of organizations. At various times since 1984, she has had a seat in the Andorran legislature. From 1994 to 1997, having been elected in Andorra la Vella, she was secretary of the legislature and representative of women parliamentarians of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. In 2005 and 2007, she was appointed chair of the legislature’s commission on foreign relations. After the most recent elections on December 2, 2007, she was elected mayor of Andorra la Vella, the capital of the Principality of Andorra, thereby starting a new political phase and becoming the second woman to take on this role. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Ms. Rosa Ferrer, mayor of Andorra la Vella.
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Hello to everyone. Minister, Mayor, I am here to present to you Andorra la Vella, the capital of the Principality of Andorra, which is the next host city of the International Winter Road Congress. As I said, Andorra la Vella is the capital of the Principality of Andorra and I think it is important for me to give you a little overview the Principality of Andorra. |
We are a small country, 468 km², nothing like Québec or Canada, located between Spain and France, at the heart of the Pyrenees. A Pyrenees State, this massive mountainous area of Europe is not a barrier but instead, a meeting place. Andorra has a population of over 85,000 people and a density of 182 people per km², even though the majority of the population is concentrated in the valley’s bottoms.
Until 1993, our institutions and the country’s political organization was feudal. Since then, we have become a constitutional state, democratic and social. Our system of government is the parliamentary CoPrincipality. Our coprinces, Head of State, are the Bishop Urgel and the President of France. The official language is catalan.
Andorra has 7 parishes – land boundaries – the capital of which is Andorra la Vella. Our city is located on the surface of the central plain valley, where the country’s two most important rivers converge and run along the North and East valley, and where they make up “el gran Valira.”
Right in the Pyreenes mountains, the city’s altitude is 1027 meters and it is surrounded by mountains reaching heights of over 2500 meters. Andorra la Vella is one of the Principality’s lowest cities. Andorra has 65 summits over 2500 meters in altitude and the highest is El Pla de l’Estany that is just under 3000 meters. We are at 2951 meters.
Andorra la Vella currently has almost 25,000 citizens spread out among the capital and the other villages and the administration corresponds to Comù, which is the administrative government of our territory and represents a third of the Principality’s entire population.
The most important economic sectors are business, construction, the hotel and restaurant industry, as well as the financial sector.
The Principality of Andorra receives over 11 million visitors a year, who come for the shopping, and winter and mountain sports, which represents for our capital an average of 100,000 vehicles a day.
Currently, Andorre la Vella has 50 hotels, with a total of 2600 rooms and 150 restaurants. There are other parishes, and in all, the number is much higher.
The capital recently build a conference centre, right in the middle of the city, that is around 4700 m², and has 6 multifunctional rooms and a fully equipped hall that can hold almost 1000 seats.
The City of Andorra la Vella is a true and authentic open–air plaza, almost the biggest in Europe. There is a meeting place and shopping centre with a variety of products from all over the world.
From a historical and cultural standpoint, we have roman churches, you have seen some in the pictures from the 12th Century, and at the centre of the city, the old area where “la casa de la Vall” is located, the Parliament building, and a seigniorial building from the 15th Century. Andorre la Vella is a very active cultural city: we have a music education institute, a theatre school and an arts school. We organize the Music and Dance Frestival that includes acclaimed performances and the International Female Clown Festival, which is biannual.
As for today's topic, Andorra la Vella's mayor's office (el Comù) must ensure the maintenance and monitoring of 40 km of roads and streets in the city, a total of 55 km. The difference is the national highways that rely on the national office. There is a close working relationship between the government and the parishes and town halls (Comuns).
In terms of weather, our country can be considered as having a mediterranean continental climate, even though some geographic factors like the landscape and the gradient altitude make it so that there is a mountainous climate with significant precipitation and very low temperatures during winter and a significant thermic amplitude and strong winds at the bottom of the valley, between the months of December and April. And a little like Québec, we were just talking to the Mayor about it, for the snow period, we are in about the same boat and we have very warm and beautiful summers. Andorra la Vella's climate is mountainous, mediterranean and temperate.
Our capital does not have ski courses but the Principality of Andorra has the largest concentration of ski resorts in the Pyrenees (over 315 km of courses). This is why our city has the support of all the other mayor's offices (Comuns) of the Principality to organize the 14th Winter Road Congress that will be held in Andorra, in 2014.
Given that over half of the Principality is located above 2000 meters of altitude, we have the most significant snow precipitation between the months of December and April. This is also when Andorra la Vella has snowfalls, even though they are less frequent. In 2006, for example, the Andorra la Vella village established a strategic snow plan called PLAANDNEU in order to be effective and operational in proceeding with snow removal on the streets and sidewalks in Andorra la Vella, Santa Coloma and la Margineda. We usually remove the snow within 2 days, and after 24 hours everything is almost clear. We work together with the Government. For example, last February, we received 60 cm of snow in 3 hours. At the end of 24 hours, the downtown was completely clean, including the sidewalks and other areas.
This snow plan anticipates the availability of municipal staff. All staff is responsible for clearing the streets available in this plan. There are always 24 permanent people based on projected weather. But these numbers can be doubled, sometimes we have 50 or 60 people at any given time in the streets to clear them. We also have machines, unimogs, quads, and trucks to pass through small neighbourhoods, in small streets and old areas, and in the entire Andorra network. We also use salt and environmentally–friendly salt, just like you. We have a depot with a capacity of 90,000 kg of salt and 22,000 kg of environmentally–friendly salt that we use for about one season, 300,000 kg.
Lastly, I would just like to say that I am available if you have any further questions. I know there that the ministère de l’aménagement du territoire’s speech will follow mine. I encourage you to visit the Principality of Andorra, visit our stand here at the Congress and I will be very pleased to welcome you to Andorra la Vella, the capital of the Pyrenees, in 2014. Thank you.
Moderator:
Our third guest this morning is Mr. Michael Applebaum. He was elected as a municipal counsellor for the first time in 1994. Since 2001, he has been mayor of the largest and most populous borough of Montreal, Côte-des-Neiges-Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, representing the municipal party Union Montréal. From 2005 until his appointment to Montreal’s executive committee in 2009, he chaired the commission on environment, transportation and infrastructure, while continuing his work in the borough. In 2009, he became the member of Montreal’s executive committee responsible for sports and recreation. After the most recent elections, he was appointed vice-chair of the executive committee responsible for services to residents, housing, relations with the boroughs, communications and the office of public consultations. He has established a number of programs that have considerably increasing funding for social, community and sports organizations in the borough. He built the Saint-Raymond and Mountain Sights sports and community centres, as well as the Côte-des-Neiges intercultural library. Thanks to his efforts, construction has begun on the Benny sports and community complex, the Nemours and Jean-Talon areas have been renovated, and the borough green plan has been adopted. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm pleased to welcome Mr. Michael Applebaum.
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As the elected official in charge of snow removal in Montreal, I am proud to have the opportunity to talk about the challenges presented to city life by winter and by variations in climatic conditions.
Let me start with a short overview of my city. Montreal is situated in the 16th largest urban area in North America. It has 1.6 million inhabitants and a land area of 365 km2. The city also has 1.3 million vehicles, and half a million people coming downtown every day.
Montreal is the only French-speaking metropolis in North America. Its cultural activities alone are worth almost $8 billion.
Montreal is a modern, dynamic city, on the move day and night, summer and winter. The city is home to 11 universities, including 4 large ones that cover all fields, as well as 12 colleges and 20 hospitals. There is a stimulating intellectual environment, and the city vibrates with a special creative energy.
As a result of all this creativity, boldness and talent, Montreal was named a UNESCO City of Design in 2006.
Montreal’s international role doesn’t stop there. Some 95 nations are represented here through 70 international organizations and 85 consular establishments. Then, of course, there are 7 million tourists who discover or return to Montreal each year to visit its attractions, or simply to enjoy la joie de vivre that its residents radiate.
Montreal is also a green city that has opted for sustainable development by giving the nod to public transit and active transportation. With four lines and 71 kilometers of tunnels, Montreal’s subway system provide direct service to the metropolitan region key economic hubs, cultural institutions and commercial centers. This pollution-free transportation system generates virtually no greenhouse gases. Montreal’s Société de transport delivers over 350 million rides each year, including service to people with reduced mobility. Universal access is an important goal. We place very special emphasis on this issue. For example, certain subway stations are already equipped with elevators, and several bus lines have vehicles equipped for wheelchair usage.
A tramway will be introduced to Montreal’s public transit system in the next few years. This new system will make it easier for people to get around, even in the winter time.
Montreal is home to such an ever-growing number of cycling enthusiasts that the 500 kilometers of reserved bike paths on the island include 30 kilometers of white paths, which are maintained and snow-cleared all winter long.
Parking providing excellent service to those who decide to settle, live and work in Montreal is a commitment that we make and keep each day. This is certainly one of the added benefits of residing in our city.
Our snow-clearing crews are on the job from November 15th through March 31th each year. They know that life must keep moving in the big city, whatever the weather outside. Montreal receives an average of 225 centimeters of snow each winter. We usually have eight snowfalls with cumulations of more than 10 centimeters or more in a given season. At a time of climate change, however, one winter may be quite different from the next. For example, the 1987-1988 season was quite an experience, with 500 centimeters of snow descending on our city. The record had been set a decade earlier.
Clearing snow in Montreal is a highly complex operation. Factors such as weather, accumulation, traffic, rush-hour periods, obstacles on the route, distances to be traveled for snow removal trucks, compliance with environmental rules, snow dumps to be maintained and many other factors must all be taken into account.
Snow removal in Montreal involves an average of five to six snow-removal operations and 13 million metric cubes of snow in some 375 truck loads, collected and then dumped each year. The City has allocated 145 million dollars to snow removal for the current budget year.
We must clear 4 100 kilometers of streets and 6 550 kilometers of sidewalks in our city, with a combined distance equal to a round trip between Montreal and Vancouver.
Montreal has 122 snow-removal zones. Our top priorities in snow removal are pedestrian safety and access to public transit, to hospitals, to schools, and to institutions, while placing increased emphasis on preserving our river.
As I just mentioned, our City administration decided to rethink its working methods following the winter of 2007-2008, with the 500 centimeters of snow. Three types of operations have been defined:
- the first being snowstorms of less than 30 cm;
- snow storms of 30 cm and more
- and several storms that require a special removal plan, snow removal plan.
With storms that dump 30 cm of snow or less snow, our ten reserved bus lines are cleared even before the buses begin their morning runs. Our crews start by clearing the sidewalks and the areas around bus shelters.
In storms with 30 cm or more of snow, 6 snow priority routes facilitate travel for emergency vehicles and snow-removal trucks. Parking is prohibited along these trucking routes and priority routes; 22 top-priority snow-removal zones also insure swift public transit service.
Montreal is a densely built-up city. The diversity and concentration of construction pose a major challenge. Most residents lack private or reserved parking. Many of our residential streets are narrow and offer little clearance for heavy vehicles, which must also compete with space with trucks collecting garbage, recycling materials and bulky objects. Snow removal is further complicated by such factors.
The City provides more than 6 200 night parking spaces during snow-removal operations. Our crews can get their job done much faster with fewer vehicles on the street.
In every case, regardless of how much snow has fallen, snow removal involves four steps:
- Spreading
- Clearing
- Loading
- Disposal
Everything is done to make sure pedestrians are safe. Generally a mixture of 10% salt and 90% crushed rock is spread. New mixtures of abrasives are being tested to find the right balance between product effectiveness, price and environmental value.
The second step is clearing the snow. A thousand machines get under way as soon as the accumulation of snow reaches 2.5 cm.
Loading the snow involves 2200 pieces of equipment and 3000 employees working day and night. Signage lets drivers know when they are not allowed to park.
This overview shows the complexity of snow removal in a dense urban area such as Montreal. It also shows the many issues involved in snow removal for the city government.
Aside from making people safe and letting traffic flow smoothly, snow removal is important because of its direct impact on the quality of the environment.
At one time, snow was simply dumped in the St. Lawrence River. Nowadays we use disposal sites and the sewers, this being more environmentally friendly.
The City of Montreal extracts as many contaminants as possible from the snow by treating the melt water at the wastewater plant and by cleaning the ground once the snow has melted. I should mention here that two-thirds of Montreal’s sewer system collects both rainwater and wastewater.
The melt water from disposal sites and from the sewers goes to a wastewater treatment plant, bringing with it oil, grease, detritus and some 8000 metric tonnes of sand and gravel, which are removed each year. The water is then treated before being dumped into water bodies.
The City of Montreal invests in improvements to its snow disposal sites. Reducing the environmental impacts of snow removal is a priority for us.
Another major concern is the location of snow removal sites. They need to be at strategic locations so as to reduce the distance over which the snow has to be carried and in this way reduce both greenhouse gas emissions and traffic.
The City is also making a greater effort to evaluate new sources of energy for melting snow. Another important matter is educating citizens and making information available about snow removal.
The major coverage the media give to winter creates an opportunity to connect with citizens on this matter and appeal to their civic spirit. Snow and winter have always been part of the lives of Montrealers.
Montreal is a dynamic and lively place even during the winter, and people are encouraged to enjoy themselves outdoors. For example:
- The Montreal High Lights Festival, held in February, is one of the biggest winter festivals in the world. More than three quarters of a million people celebrating the Montreal winter.
- The Fête des Neiges (snow festival) is a not-to-be-missed event each winter. Both kids and adults are attracted by tube sliding, snow scooting, barrel jumping demonstrations, hockey, and skating a 1 km trail along the St. Lawrence River. City council even created a snowboarding park in response to a wish expressed by a young man at a council meeting last year.
Montreal has 17 big parks, including the magnificent Mount Royal park located in the heart of the city. As a result, any Montrealer is bound to have one of these parks nearby, and there are also a multitude of neighbourhood parks for outdoor winter activities.
The snowy trails of Montreal’s parks provide unforgettable views of winter’s beauty for snowshoers, skiers and hikers, as well as an opportunity for close contact with nature. On the Lachine Canal, not far from downtown, it’s not unusual to pass someone bearing a laptop, a digital player ….and snowshoes!
And then there’s IglooFest, where you can dance and party to music outdoors in January.
Those most sensitive to cold can live through Montreal’s winter without going outdoors, thanks to the biggest underground pedestrian complex in the world. Montreal’s Underground City is an indoor city where you can find half a million people moving about every day. There are 32 km of corridors and squares, with over a thousand shops, restaurants and services of all kinds. From the Underground City, you can access a dozen subway stations, 60 buildings, 40 theatres and cinemas, not to mention hotels, tourist attractions and museums. Also directly accessible without going outside are some 1615 residences.
Yes, Montrealers have tamed winter—just part of their ability, proven over the years and still evident today, to adapt to the many changes arising from the development of a large urban area such as ours.
We at city council have a responsibility to provide residents with all the services and facilities they need both to confront the vagaries and harshness of winter and to enjoy its pleasures.
Enjoy your stay…and take advantage of our winter!
Moderator:
The time has now come to conclude the session. My warmest thanks to the three mayors for their instructive presentations. We have seen how snow removal in cities creates many challenges and calls on highly sophisticated, advanced technologies. This mayors’ session has been a first for the World Road Association, and I am sure that the interest you have shown by being here this morning will ensure that the Association continues this activity at future congresses. So until we meet again in Andorra la Vella in 2014, thank you for attending, and enjoy the rest of the congress.
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To facilitate reading of the text, the masculine is used without any discriminatory intent. |