Today, the packed snow on your street will turn into sugar and your car will get stuck

It's not going to be a good day for drivers in Sault Ste. Marie, says Larry Girardi, the city's deputy chief administrative officer for public works and engineering services.

A lot more snow is on the way, but the man responsible for the city's snow-removal operations is more concerned about what's already on the ground.

Girardi's keeping a close eye on something he calls 'snow pack.'

That's what happens when vehicular traffic rolls over fresh-fallen snow before it can be removed.

Packed snow is hard to plow and city streets are full of it.

Girardi's been trying to keep it to a minimum, but with the 180 centimetres of white stuff that's already fallen this winter, there's as much as 10 inches of hard-packed snow on some city streets.

The real problem, he says, starts when the temperature suddenly shoots above freezing, as is expected to happen today.

That's not a pothole. It's snow pack

"You'll see roads that are very bumpy. That isn't potholes. That's just an indication of how deep a snow pack we have," Girardi told a meeting of Sault Ste. Marie City Council last night.

"It should be noticed that when the temperature hits minus five and moves upwards to zero, or plus one degree, as expected by [today], the snow pack turns to sugar-like material, causing poor driving conditions."

"If snow pack was considerable, some roads will not be passable at all. As you'll notice by [today], this material when it turns to sugar a lot of people don't realize that most small cars will actually not be able to operate."

"A four-by-four truck or something like that might be able to continue on, but we've got several roads in the city that have probably got eight to 10 inches of snow pack. This is always happening because it's continuing to snow and traffic's continuing to drive over it."

Girardi's ominous Tuesday forecast was part of a review he provided on snow-removal operations at the request of Ward 2 Councillor Susan Myers.

15 to 20 centimetres more snow expected

Even without the accumulated snow pack, this week's weather forecast contains more than enough to keep local snowplow operators busy.

An Environment Canada warning snowfall warning issued early this morning is calling for 15 to 20 centimetres in Sault Ste. Marie, St. Joseph Island, Searchmont, Montreal River Harbour and Batchawana Bay, changing to rain this afternoon in some areas.

"I've instructed my team to hire private trucks to assist with snow removal if they are available," Girardi told city councillors last night.

"We want to try and get the snowbanks down because that's our next level of concern. This will allow us to continue with the program and continue to plow the roads because it looks like we're probably going to be getting snow for the next five or six days."

Councillor Myers asked Girardi whether all that scraping was really necessary on local streets.

He vigorously defended the practise of using graders as well as snowplows, saying they are needed to keep snow pack under control.

"We need to manage it," he said.

Priorities

When snow falls, Girardi said the first priority of snow-removal staff is to keep main roads and collector streets open.

"Once the event is over, our focus is on reducing snow pack."

"Our next focus is snowbank removal."

However, changing weather conditions can make it difficult to stick to the plan.

"With the continuous snowfall as we have been experiencing, crews must jump from scraping or snowbank removal back onto plowing."

"To add to this challenge is the changes in temperature where one day we're experiencing minus 20 and the next day plus one."

Graders must be used for scraping

Snowplows are of little use in removing accumulated snow pack, Girardi said.

"Snowplows are only gravity-fed. They just bounce off the top. That's what they're designed for."

"Graders must be used for scraping. We only have six of them. So to get through 500 kilometres of road and get it scraped down and try and make it passable for everyone in a short period of time, that's where I'm asking for the patience."

Girardi said city workers are trying to scrape the snow pack as gently as possible right now so they don't deposit too much of the stuff in driveways.

The two-foot driveway rule

Under city policy, public works will only consider removing driveway windrows that are in excess of 0.6 metres (two feet) or where, in the opinion of the maintenance supervisor, the windrows are a hazard.

And Girardi warns that it's not always possible to respond quickly to windrow complaints.

"Keep in mind we have 30,000 driveways in the City of Sault Ste. Marie and 500 kilometres [of roads] that we're trying to manage. To say that I can have someone right there in a short period of time - not possible."

Ward One Councillor Steve Butland compared the concentrated snowfall in recent days to the winter of 1996.

Exceptions?

Butland asked whether exceptions are ever made to the windrow rule for the elderly or citizens with health issues.

Girardi said supervisors sometimes make exceptions but generally the answer is no.

Organizations like the Red Cross and private-sector businesses are available to help in such cases.

"We have 30,000 driveways. It would be almost impossible to manage that, logistically."

"If we're on that street and we're doing work and the supervisor's there and he identifies someone who comes to him and says 'I have a doctor's appointment' we're sympathetic to this. They'll open it up for them. But we can't have everybody having to go to a doctor's appointment at the same time," Girardi said.

Be a neighbour!

"Be a neighbour. Help them out. Go out and help someone clean out the end of their driveway. If it's ice and you see someone's having a challenge, go ahead and help them out."

Girardi said bus stops are considered a priority. Crews start as early as 4 a.m. clearing them of snow.

As for snowbank removal, Girardi is doubtful his trucks will get to all residential areas this winter.

"I have to be honest to say that I highly doubt that we'll get into all the residential areas [for removing snowbanks]. But we will prioritise and if there's a high risk we go there. If there's a school and we think we need to address it, we address it."

Asked by Ward 4 Councillor Rick Niro about the cost of having front-end loaders following road graders to clear each driveway, Girardi said a 2008 study found that it would add more than a million dollars to the city budget. 

"It's not just the cleaning of the driveways. It's the damage that you do, because you're using large loaders. We damage curbs, we damage lawns and we scrape driveways," Girardi said.

Nothing has changed

He added that the city has been following the same process for snow removal for the past 10 years.

"We haven't changed the budget for winter snow removal and we haven't changed staffing for it and we haven't changed any of our policies," said Mayor Christian Provenzano.

"So we're going about it the same this year we have every other year. The difference is we're having a pretty heavy year," the mayor said.

Whereas on December 5, 2016 a city budget was passed containing a 4.34 percent levy increase for 2017; and

 

Whereas the community is facing economic anxiety due to instability in the local economy; and

 

Whereas council expects preparations for the 2018 budget to commence immediately;

 

Now therefore be it resolved that the five city departments, being: public works and engineering, emergency services, city legal department, corporate services, and community development and enterprise be directed to present to City Council 2018 preliminary budgets with a decrease of no less than one percent versus their 2017 approved budgets.

Whereas the city website provides the opportunity to give additional information to the city residents in a quick and accessible way; and

 

Whereas many residents have an interest in how the city is spending its money; and

 

Whereas the city is committed to being open and transparent with taxpayers about the expenses it incurs;

 

Now therefore be it resolved that the departmental budget for each individual department be posted in an easily accessible place on the City website; further that staff travel expenses and travel reports be posted in an easily accessible place on the city website; further that all city credit card statements be posted in an easily accessible place on the City website with all necessary security information redacted.

In other news, a resolution from Ward 2 Councillors Susan Myers and Sandra Hollingsworth calling for more job-creation programs for job-seekers over the age of 30 received City Council approval.