Here’s Why Your Street Wasn’t Plowed After the Storm in Brampton
Published April 17, 2018 at 7:02 pm
It’s true that this weekend’s storm was unprecedented, covering Brampton and surrounding cities in sleet, ice pellets, freezing rain, rain, and even snow. If your residential street is
It’s true that this weekend’s storm was unprecedented, covering Brampton and surrounding cities in sleet, ice pellets, freezing rain, rain, and even snow. If your residential street is currently a slushy mess after this weekend’s ice storm, you’re not alone.
Sidewalks are still slippery and while main roads are now clear, many Brampton residents are wondering, why wasn’t my street plowed after that weird ice-snow-rain storm in the middle of April?
The city released a big update on snow and ice clearing operations across the city via the City Matters newsletter on Tuesday, including why residential streets weren’t plowed.
First, the city noted that due to rainfall warnings and flood watches issued by Environment Canada, plowing residential streets would block catch basins with ice and snow, which would actually increase the risk of flooding.
And the other reason?
“Like most municipalities, the majority of Brampton’s winter operations are carried out by contract,” reads the newsletter. “When that contract finished at the end of March, most contractors redeployed their equipment and operators for the construction season.”
According the the city, since the storm went on for a few days, remaining resources were deployed strategically to plow and salt main roads first.
“On Monday, as temperatures began to rise, it meant continuing to clear main roads while also starting to focus on flood prevention.”
But residential streets won’t be slush-filled for too much longer.
“Later today (Tuesday), all available resources will be deployed to salt residential streets to help melt the snow and ice surfaces,” reads the newsletter. “All roads are expected to be salted by tomorrow.”
“The City has also secured some sidewalk tractors and is awaiting their arrival so they can be immediately deployed in strategic locations.”
You might be wondering what preparations were made in Brampton since Environment Canada predicted the storm late last week.
Along with monitoring those forecasts, the city did develop a plan to deploy resources and stockpile salt, and it also reached out to expired contractors, but less than half of those normally contracted were available to help.
You may want to note that 3-1-1 is still experiencing high call volumes and longer than usual wait times if you’re trying to reach out to the city.
So, Brampton’s residential streets won’t be so snow-filled tomorrow, and maybe we can have a real spring soon!