Over the past week, Ottawa has experienced some pretty incredible, and record setting weather. We’ve seen snow, freezing rain, melts and more snow. To combat this, we have had our roads crews out 24/7 since Saturday, January, 19. Our teams work full 12-hour shifts before being replaced by their counterparts, who then hit the roads and sidewalks for further clearing operations. There has been no downtime for staff.
In the coming days, our teams will continue to keep roads and sidewalks safe and clear for residents. We work on a priority system for clearing, and have attached a graphic that outlines our priorities. It is important to note that while we strive to always meet Maintenance Quality Standards (MQS), events like the recent ones mean we have to work a little slower to manage the quantity of snow. We traditionally start with snow clearing operations, then as time permits, we move to snow removal operations. Snow removal is a priority in some of our core areas where we have no more room to store snow, or where the width of the road is too narrow to keep the snow in place.
We would also appreciate your support with a few key messages, if you can:
- A blue flashing light means our plows are working – please give them space to do their work.
- Please, report any concerns via 3-1-1 or at Ottawa.ca. This is the fastest way for your concerns to get to the front-line staff.
- Please, remove cars from the street to aid in clearing operations.
- Garbage cans and recycling bins are best placed in your driveway for pickup, not on snowbanks where they can slide into the road.
