Globecord - First heavy snowfall leads to plow troubles

The first snowfall of the season was a couple of weeks ago, during which I spent 3.5 hours on the 401 doing what usually is a 40 minute trip. As anyone who's driven in snowy climates knows, the first snow forces everyone to relearn the basic skill of winter driving.

Today was the first heavy snowfall of the season. Drivers were generally confident and handling the roads well. Heavy snow brings our the plows though. Like parking authority officers, I think plow operators must derive a sense of twisted pleasure from their work.

I sat behind a row of plows clearing all 7 lanes of the 401 simultaneously for two hours this morning. While following, I witnessed first hand as they plowed in every on and off ramp from the highway between Kennedy Rd and the Hwy 400 exit. Each was filled in with a snowbank 2 feet high, blocking all non-SUV traffic from entering or exiting the highway.

Surely there's a more efficient way to clear snow without piling all on the entrances and exits from the highway? The plows move at about 20 km an hour, which is plenty slow enough for a smaller vehicle to follow along and ensure on and off ramps are not blocked. Perhaps snow could be plowed to the median dividing the collector and express lanes. They already clear the transfers in the process, so they would remain cleared.

To top off the day, I arrived home tonight to discover that the City of Pickering hasn't improved in its road clearing service at all. The roads were cleared, and all the driveways were plowed in with metre thick banks of frozen slush and snow. Why can't they install snow gates on their equipment to block most of the snow from spilling onto driveways. Sure, they'd need some extra plows, or more time to clear the roads, but I think residents would be happy to wait a little longer if it meant driveways weren't filled in.

I notice too that my efforts to keep the corner crossing area clear are wasted, as the plow filled it in as well.

Argh!