Sidewalk snow clearing and improved asphalt reports coming to Winnipeg committee

Snow plows were deployed to clear sidewalks and streets after a snowstorm hit Winnipeg in this undated photo.

Snow clearing on sidewalks and improving pavement on city streets will be topics of conversation the next time the city’s public works committee meets.

Two reports were listed on the meeting agenda—comparing Winnipeg’s snow clearing on sidewalks to other cities and a progress report on pavement research at the U of M.

Sidewalk snow clearing

Back in July 2024, council asked the public service to review other cities and how they manage snow and ice control on sidewalks during freeze-thaw cycles.

The city reached out to 19 cities in Canada and two in Minnesota. In total, nine cities responded.

What the city learned was Winnipeg receives the most snow of all prairie cities, it has the least snowpack melt, has the fewest days where salt would be effective to melt snow, and has the fewest freeze/thaw days.

A further breakdown found Winnipeg is like all other cities in terms of snow storage by leaving the snow on boulevards adjacent to sidewalks. However, some cities do move snow after major weather events to help with drainage.

It was also found that most cities will try to get sidewalks cleared to the pavement when it is possible when there is a melt and freeze cycle happening. When bare pavement isn’t possible, these cities will use salt or melting liquid.

“Compared to other cities, Winnipeg has the least snowpack melt in the months of December, January, and February. This makes the use of melting liquids and salt less effective to achieve a bare pavement condition,” the report reads.

There are no recommendations from the report, as it was done just to help the city have a better understanding of how snow is dealt with elsewhere.

“Certain activities, such as plowing immediately as snow accumulation occurs (leading to multiple plows) and the usage of melting chemicals, could result in an enhanced level of service and mitigate some effects during freeze/thaw cycles. The activities, however, will have currently unknown financial and environmental implications.”

Pavement research

The other report is focused on the progress of pavement research at the University of Manitoba. The city joined forces with the university to research ways of improving asphalt that is used on city streets.

Two points in the research looked at rut-resistant asphalt mixtures for intersections and a balanced asphalt mix design.

For the rut-resistant mixtures, the university found that after testing different aggregates, the life of the pavement could be increased by 30 per cent on average.

“While the cost of premium materials is typically higher than currently used sources, it is expected that the life cycle cost and rates of deterioration will be substantially lower than presently used materials,” the report said.

However, it was noted the university still needs to conduct moisture sensitivity testing on the different types of asphalt.

As for the balanced asphalt mix, the university tested “asphalt mixtures that had varying contents of recycled shingles and reclaimed asphalt to determine the optimum mix composition according to the new guidelines of balanced mix design.”

So far, testing has found “reclaimed asphalt has widely varying physical properties and asphalt contents.”

The university said research is still happening, and recommendations for asphalt mixes will be made in the future.

A final report on the research is expected next month.

The full reports can be read online.