Want to know where the snowplows are and if your street has been cleared?
The City of Barrie’s plow tracker mapping app has the answers.
This map provides information regarding the last time a city road was plowed and/or treated with brine, salt or sand as required, based on road conditions.
Dave Friary, the city’s director of operations, says each plow and sander/salter working for the city has a global positioning system (GPS) for tracking purposes.
“It’s so residents could actually track their plow in almost real time,” he said. “I think there’s maybe a 15- to 20-minute delay and that’s just so people don’t kind of see their plow coming and run out and take their cars out of their driveways and park them on the road" so they don’t get plowed in.
The plow tracker shows where streets have been cleared within eight hours, within eight to 16 hours, and within 16 to 24 hours.
“Most people woke up this morning and the roads were all clear, it was just another normal day in Barrie,” Friary said. “We had (snowplows) out since last night.”
But Friary said this snowfall, which began Wednesday and drifted into Thursday morning, kept his crews busy.
“We started actually last night, yesterday even, and then we had all the guys out … the whole evening shift was out, so they were doing all the (residential roads),” Friary said.
“So what’s going to happen today is the main roads will continue to be sanded, salted, as needed, but the residentials we’re going to go back in this (Thursday) evening, when the night shift comes back,” he added. “That way we’re not trying to run around parked cars, or perhaps kids off of school.
“So for safety and efficiency, we’ll just go back out this evening (in the residential streets).”
Barrie’s weather forecast was to receive 10 to 20 centimetres of snow Wednesday into Thursday.
John Dunsmore, weather tracker for Environment and Climate Change Canada, measured 11.6 cm of snowfall Wednesday-Thursday from his property just off the Ridge Road, at the border of Barrie and Oro-Medonte Township.
“For us, that snowstorm last night (Wednesday) was a typical squall,” Friary said. “That’s what we would get on a typical day when there’s a squall coming in, so we would get anywhere from 10 to 20 cm.”
He said, mid-morning Thursday, the concern now is blowing and drifting snow.
“We’re not going to get a ton more, I hope, but it’s going to blow around and drift,” Friary said. “So now the winds are shifting as well, coming out of the northwest, and you know when they come out of the northwest is when we typically get snow squalls.”
The other half of the city’s winter maintenance operations is clearing sidewalks.
The sidewalk machines don’t have a GPS, and there are many variables affecting service.
“It varies with the amount of snow, and also the attachment we have on (the plow),” Friary said. “In early winter, we put the brooms on, for light snow and to protect the sod before it freezes.
“Then switch to V-blades, which scrape the snow off and if we get a substantial snowfall, we’ll then go to the blowers. When you go to the blower units, it typically takes about twice as long to get around your route.
“The primary sidewalk plows will stay out 24/7, as long as they’re needed. We just keep going until it’s all done.”
Although winter weather is often random and unpredictable, the city says its snow removal efforts are not. City officials say they are committed to providing a high level of snow removal service throughout the winter season — using a combination of city staff and contractors, plowing, sanding and salting is performed with consideration of safety, the environment and budget concerns.
For the city’s winter maintenance service levels and to use the plow tracker, click here.
