Winter Walking and Cycling

[danbrotherston]

Ugh, the infrastructure on Erb St W in winter is basically unusable due to snow.

Sidewalk or bike lane? I found it was not too bad last winter, but I haven't seen it this winter. The sidewalk on the other hand is much longer, and much more poorly maintained.

[Acitta]

'A little bit treacherous': Ice-covered sidewalks in Kitchener causing unsafe conditions for residents

[danbrotherston]

'A little bit treacherous': Ice-covered sidewalks in Kitchener causing unsafe conditions for residents

That is truly atrocious reporting:

"The city did try to see what taking on the responsibility of clearing all sidewalks would look like. Through a pilot project from 2019 to 2020, city staff determined it was not ready for that task because there is a finite number of stuff, and a limited amount of equipment."

That's not even remotely what the report said, it stated the exact dollar figure that would be required TO do it, yeah, they can't just start doing it with existing resources.

"The city determined a community approach, where everyone is responsible, would get the ice cleared quicker."

The report in fact found the exact opposite of that, that sidewalks were cleared better when the city did it.

Who the fuck writes this garbage?

Honestly, I submitted it as an "error" not that they care, or even if they did and they retracted it, would actually get noticed.

Like, this is infuriating...after all the work we (I) fucking did pushing for this report, for it to get misrepresented like this. FFS!

[panamaniac]

Ottawa’s sidewalks are also icy this week.

[ijmorlan]

Don’t worry, it’s only “a little bit” treacherous. If it were just plain treacherous, then we’d have a problem.

[bravado]

Don’t worry, it’s only “a little bit” treacherous. If it were just plain treacherous, then we’d have a problem. 

Even then, I doubt it... any degree of treachery is only unacceptable when it involves a road. If people wanted to be safe in this city, they'd quit being poor and just buy a car!

[plam]

Ugh, the infrastructure on Erb St W in winter is basically unusable due to snow.

Sidewalk or bike lane? I found it was not too bad last winter, but I haven't seen it this winter. The sidewalk on the other hand is much longer, and much more poorly maintained.

Sidewalk seems pretty bad. Bike lane is half full of snow.

[ijmorlan]

Has any jurisdiction tried the experiment of plowing snow toward the middle of the road? Leave a pile along the centre line rather than two piles at the sides. Of course, they would have to do something about intersections and driveways would become right-in, right-out, but it should avoid problems with bike lanes, sidewalks, and driveway entrances.

[danbrotherston]

Has any jurisdiction tried the experiment of plowing snow toward the middle of the road? Leave a pile along the centre line rather than two piles at the sides. Of course, they would have to do something about intersections and driveways would become right-in, right-out, but it should avoid problems with bike lanes, sidewalks, and driveway entrances.

I have seen this...somewhere...but I don't recall where.

They already could do this without any logistical challenges in some places...and in fact, they already do it in some cul-de-sacs, but any road with a middle median could have snow ploughed there, and there wouldn't be ANY adjustment to make.

[robdrimmie]

Has any jurisdiction tried the experiment of plowing snow toward the middle of the road? Leave a pile along the centre line rather than two piles at the sides. Of course, they would have to do something about intersections and driveways would become right-in, right-out, but it should avoid problems with bike lanes, sidewalks, and driveway entrances.

I have seen this...somewhere...but I don't recall where.

They already could do this without any logistical challenges in some places...and in fact, they already do it in some cul-de-sacs, but any road with a middle median could have snow ploughed there, and there wouldn't be ANY adjustment to make.

I'm on a road with a middle boulevard, on a bus route. Snow is pretty much never plowed into the middle during the first 48 hours or so of a storm. A few days after when clean-up is going on, they will often clear into it, but the worst of the plowed snow has already ended up in our driveways. Every now and then one of the drivers will just run up the street backwards (it's a one-block access road into a subdivision) which is always a nice bonus to wake up to, but we've been here 17 years and it's not something that happens even annually.

My understanding of why they don't - which is unconfirmed neighbour chatter - is that it takes too much time to change the blade angle.

[timc]

Ugh, the infrastructure on Erb St W in winter is basically unusable due to snow.

Sidewalk or bike lane? I found it was not too bad last winter, but I haven't seen it this winter. The sidewalk on the other hand is much longer, and much more poorly maintained.

The bike lane has been pretty good any time I've been by there.

[danbrotherston]

I have seen this...somewhere...but I don't recall where.

They already could do this without any logistical challenges in some places...and in fact, they already do it in some cul-de-sacs, but any road with a middle median could have snow ploughed there, and there wouldn't be ANY adjustment to make.

I'm on a road with a middle boulevard, on a bus route. Snow is pretty much never plowed into the middle during the first 48 hours or so of a storm. A few days after when clean-up is going on, they will often clear into it, but the worst of the plowed snow has already ended up in our driveways. Every now and then one of the drivers will just run up the street backwards (it's a one-block access road into a subdivision) which is always a nice bonus to wake up to, but we've been here 17 years and it's not something that happens even annually.

My understanding of why they don't - which is unconfirmed neighbour chatter - is that it takes too much time to change the blade angle.

I didn't mean they were doing it now on roads with boulevards, they do it in some cul-de-sacs.

I simply meant they could do it on roads with boulevards and it wouldn't change much, except the plough blade angle. To be fair, I'm not a plough driver, I have no idea what that involves, it could be more difficult than changing the blade angle on the vehicles which clear our parking lots...

[KevinT]

My understanding of why they don't - which is unconfirmed neighbour chatter - is that it takes too much time to change the blade angle.

On the majority of our road plows they'd have to change the blade itself. Their blades have a big end, and a little end, and those ends favour pushing to the right.

[danbrotherston]

FWIW I would suggest those trying to advocate for municipal sidewalk clearing look at Picton ON. Sidewalks here are routinely the best I experience in Canada. Even before our road here was cleared meaningfully, sidewalks were cleared. Even before they ploughed our road more than 1 lane wide they also had cleared all the curb cuts on sidewalks. The main obstructions I encounter are homeowners who plough their driveways onto the sidewalks. The municipal clearing is really quite good so it’s probably worth raising as an example.

[bravado]

How disappointing that we have to put a whole business case together for the argument that "all people, regardless of transportation method, deserve snow to be cleared".

God it's weird and deliberately unfair that drivers pay a portion of all tax dollars and get all of the service.