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To say Montreal gets a lot of snow is certainly an understatement. Snow is part of Montreal’s identity, just like twisted iron staircases, Canadiens hockey jerseys, or a plate of poutine. Montrealers live through an average of 59 days of snow every year, with around 210cm (82.5 inches) of snowfall. After a snowing overnight, the city wakes up to beautiful scenes of fluffy white snow covering lamp posts, backyards, skyscrapers and cars. But the novelty soon wears off when bicycles are buried and lost, residents can’t enter their cars without a shovel, and pedestrians slip and slide on treacherous sidewalks. Luckily, the city of Montreal snaps into action to clear all the snow from roads and sidewalks, a well-practised routine aided by some impressive technology.

How Montreal Clears Its Snowy Streets and Sidewalks

Clearing snow in Montreal is major logistical effort with some amazing numbers. Clearing vehicles are deployed about 100 days per year, with about 3,000 staff and 2,200 vehicles mobilised. If all the streets of Montreal were placed end to end, around 10,000 km (6213 miles) of streets would be cleared. That’s a longer distance than Montreal to London – and back again.

The cleared snow fills an estimated 300,000 trucks. As one of the snowiest major cities in the world, Montreal is a world leader in its snow clearing operation – and it comes with a big price tag too. Montreal spends around CA$179 million (2020 estimate) per year on snow removal operations. In 2021, snow removal made up 3% of Montreal’s entire budget.

Snow clearing occurs in various stages. Narrow streets and main roads are plowed first, prioritising emergency vehicle access. Collector roads are plowed next, followed by residential roads. Bike lanes are typically cleared quickly because of their small sizes.

When it comes to stopping slippery surfaces, crunchy road salt is scattered over roads and major pedestrian sidewalks to provide friction and to melt icy patches. At least 130,000 tons of road salt is used per year – about the weight of 21,600 African elephants!

Snow Removal Vehicles in Montreal

Montreal has a lot of impressive vehicles to help it clear snow from streets and sidewalks. Motor graders (or graders) use a long diagonal blade to push snow to the side the roads. Front loaders use a wide bucket to lift snow up and into dump trucks. Snow blowers use an auger mechanism to lift snow up and through a discharge tube, often into a dump truck for removal. For bike lanes, a speciality snow plow with a huge rotating brush clears snow whilst putting down salt at the same time.

History of Snow Clearing in Montreal

Snow was usually cleared by hand in Montreal in the 19th century, with the assistance of horse drawn plows. As the population skyrocketed in the late 19th century and early 20th century, plows were attached more frequently to motor vehicles, and later to tracked vehicles.

The first snow blower was developed by the Quebecois inventor Arthur Sicard in 1925, which was named the Sicard Snow Remover Snowblower. Other snow blower machines were imported from France over the next decades. By the 1960s, 1.2 million truckloads of snow was being removed annually (Wikipedia). Parked cars were also being addressed, with fines and towing penalties for improperly parked vehicles.

The 1980s saw most snow being dumped in the St. Lawrence river, a huge problem which was overcome by creating dedicated snow dumps outside the city. The modern day snow removal process uses GPS and camera technology so that residents can track the snow removal of their area in real time (CTV News).

Environmental Concerns of Snow Clearing in Montreal

With such a massive effort to remove snow from streets and sidewalks in Montreal, it’s no surprise that there is a significant environment impact as well. The sheer number of vehicles required means that carbon emissions from exhaust is a major problem for Montreal.

Where Does Cleared Snow Go?

In Montreal, snow cleared from roads and sidewalks was dumped into the waters of the St Lawrence river. In the 1990s, this was banned because of the huge amounts of other debris, trash, and pollutants which went with it. Today, most cleared snow is stored in huge landscape dumps and left until spring. The water runoff is treated before going into the river, and the gravel and other pollutants are separated. The largest snow dump is called Francon snow depot, which receives 40% of the city’s snow and usually has snow even in the summer months.

Environmental Impact of Road Salt

Road salt is one of the main environmental concerns about snow management in Montreal and elsewhere in North America. The thousands of tons of salt eventually dissolves into the melted snow, leaching into the soil, and affecting plant and animal life, as well as the water supply.

Alternatives to salt have been trialled. Beet juice (often mixed with salt and sugar) can be applied to roads before the snows fall, with high sugar content that stops ice forming on the road. But issues in storage and transport make it difficult to distribute. Coffee ground is another alternative. Other cities have tried using cheese brine (a byproduct of mozzarella production), which is an eco-friendly way to melt snow. In The Netherlands, a biomass salt from grass and organic waste is being trialled.

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It’s easy to underestimate just what a huge undertaking it is to clear snow from streets and sidewalks of the entire city of Montreal – every single time heavy snows fall. With a history of innovation and adaptation, from prototype snow blowers to live tracking, Montreal is now one of the world leaders in managing snow. And while there is still work to do to reduce the environmental impact of clearing snow, Montrealers can go about their daily lives even during the snowiest days.