Toronto pivots from snow clearing to removal following back-to-back storms

Crews begin the process of removing excess snow in Toronto's east end on Feb. 19.

Ten days after the first of a series of multi-day snowstorms hit Toronto, blanketing it with 53 centimetres of snow, the city has begun the process of hauling away excess snow from areas where there’s not enough room to store it.

The work, which will be done in four phases, started this morning and is expected to last up to three weeks due to the volume of the snow and the time it takes to remove it.

Residents are being advised that there may be some temporary and localized noise and traffic disruptions as this work is being done 24-7.

“We’re committed to getting this work done as soon as possible,” said Barbara Gray, the city’s general manager of transportation services, during a Wednesday afternoon news conference at a snow removal site in North York.

The City of Toronto said crews and contractors are prioritizing main streets and sidewalks with transit routes, hospitals and emergency services stations, and sidewalks and bridge decks, as well as, roads with limited storage space. It is also coordinating efforts with Toronto school boards to ensure school bus loading zones are cleared.

“By prioritizing these locations, we will help to ensure safety and accessibility for the most vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, people with disabilities, students and transit riders, as well as maintaining access for first responders,” Gray said.

Some snow removal was done in some locations last Friday “to ensure safe accessibility for pedestrians, emergency vehicles and public transit,” the city said in a news release.

The massive effort will see dump trucks transporting snow to five designated storage sites. Four snow melters have also been “strategically placed throughout the city,” said Vincent Sferrazza, Toronto’s director of Transportation Services.

He noted that since then the city has enhanced its snow removal operations by adding more in-house crews as well as more snow removal equipment, notably 450 dump trucks for snow removal.

Sferrazza added that the city has also updated its bylaws when it comes to snowstorm-related declarations to “improve our process to get ahead of the event.”

“If you see our crews at work, please remember leave them extra space to get the snow clearing and removal done as quickly as possible,” Sferrazza said.

“These are very large pieces of equipment. They’re heavy and they could be very dangerous, so we ask everyone to please let them do their job. Don’t get too close.”

Further, he reminded residents that it is illegal to shovel snow onto public property as crews will have to return to clear it.

Sferrazza also urged people to clear the snow around garbage, organic, and recycling bins, as well as, fire hydrants.

During this process, residents will see temporary orange and yellow signs posted in snowbanks advising them to move their vehicles. They may also receive a knock on their door from crews requesting they move their vehicles for snow removal, the city said. Those who do not abide could be subject to fines of up to $200 or may have their vehicle towed at their own expense.

This is the first time since January 2022, which saw 55 centimetres of snow in the city, that Toronto has undertaken snow removal on this scale.

Regular snow-clearing operations are still underway on all roads and sidewalks and TTC stops.

Snow clearing and removal requests are now being accepted for snow clean-up through 311 or online.

Last Wednesday, city officials declared a Major Snowstorm Condition and Significant Weather Event, and as a result parking was and remains prohibited on snow and streetcar routes. As of this morning, Toronto police’s Parking Enforcement unit has issued 3,085 tickets to vehicles parked on snow routes and has towed 41 others.

During that announcement, officials vowed they’d take an “all-hands-on-deck” approach to cleaning up after the heavy snowfall.

A week later, however, east-end Coun. Brad Bradford says his inbox and phone have been “blowing up with messages about the frustration Torontonians are having just trying to navigate the city right now, whether it’s impacting emergency services, seniors who can’t get out of their houses, or folks who are just trying to get to work.”

“The city is seized with the snow. Toronto is a winter city. This shouldn’t come as a surprise and I think it’s pretty frustrating that core services, the basic things that local government ought to be focused on, like removing the snow, hasn’t taken place,” the Beaches-East York rep said on Wednesday morning.

Several east-end residents have also taken to Facebook to air their grievances with the pace of snow removal in the city.

Bradford went on to say that waiting for the snow to melt is “not a credible or realistic strategy,” admitting that while snowfall can be unpredictable, these recent winter weather events were in the forecast.

He noted that Toronto saw its first hit of snow a week and a half ago on Super Bowl Sunday, followed by two more wallops last Wednesday and Thursday.

“[The city] had an opportunity to get organized and start snow removal on the Friday. That did not happen,” the Ward 19 councillor said.

“We got hit again over the weekend, and so now you’re dealing with a series of snow events that have taken place over the course of a week and a half and it’s only today that the city is starting to do the snow removal.”

He added that residents of his ward, as well as those living in other parts of Old Toronto, are especially affected.

“There’s nowhere to store the snow. It must be removed,” he said, pointing to 2022, when the city successfully removed 17,000 tons of snow in six days after a big storm.

“And so, when you put it in the context of a 25 per cent tax increase over the past three years, people are not seeing core services getting better, they’re getting worse. And as Torontonians, we ought to be demanding better from local government.”

Bradford said it’s especially ironic that the city, which has allocated $160 million for snow removal in 2025, is advising residents hampered by heavy snow to take the TTC, however a number of lines and routes have been out of service in recent days for various reasons, including the inclement weather.

“It doesn’t seem like there’s a lot of coordination,” he said.

The City of Toronto is reminding residents to clear snow around their homes, ensuring that vents for dryers, furnaces, water heaters and other heating appliances are unobstructed to prevent the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning.

With files from CTV News Toronto’s Laura Sebben and Allison Hurst