City of Burlington issues tips for winter season

As the City of Burlington is preparing for snow and cold weather, they are sharing helpful information for residents ahead of the winter season.

To stay informed on snow event declarations and facility closures due to inclement weather, residents are encouraged to subscribe to respective newsfeeds at burlington.ca/subscribe and follow the City of Burlington on Facebook or Twitter.

Occasionally, a recreation program may be cancelled when City facilities remain open. If a program is cancelled when the facility remains open, staff will try to contact the participants in advance.

In terms of plows, they will clear primary and secondary roads when an accumulation of 5 cm of snow is reached. When accumulation reaches 7.5 cm, the City will declare a “snow event” where road clearing updates will be sent to Snow Control Update subscribers at 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m.

Residents are reminded that residential roads are not maintained to the bare pavement but are sanded as required at intersections, hills and sharp curves to enhance traction. All sidewalks are plowed after 5 cm of accumulation and are salted or sanded as required.

Roads will generally be cleared 24 hours after the snowfall has ended. Should there be a heavy snowfall or a big storm, this period can sometimes be longer than 24 hours.

Whenever a snow event is declared, there is no parking on any city streets until after the snow event has been declared over. Residents who park their cars on streets could be faced with a $120 parking ticket or have their vehicles towed. All existing parking exemptions will be invalid during snow events.

During a snowfall, residents are advised not to shovel, plow or blow snow from residential or commercial properties onto the road or across the road.

“Winter weather is an unavoidable part of life when living in a municipality subject to winter weather conditions such as Burlington,” said Rico Scalera, Director of Roads, Parks and Forestry.

“When it does snow, our crews will be ready, day or night to clear the roads and sidewalks of snow and ice. Residents can help by not parking cars on residential roads and blocking our trucks from clearing snow. I also ask that you do not push snow onto the road when clearing your driveway as this creates a driving hazard and is against the highway traffic act.”