The machines were clearing what little was left of the snowfall that hit about 10 days ago.
Incredulous residents watched on breathlessly at the lack of sense this operation made, as the weather was well above zero Saturday and the need for any such effort was non-existent.
Photos of Montreal trucks clearing streets that have no snow emerge just about every year
These images offer proof of extravagant wastage in the $155 million Montreal spends annually from the $5 billion city budget..
A new deal might actually encourage such futile operations.
Last August Montreal committed itself to a new snow removal system which sets standards for snow clearing all over the island.
Any area on the island (Montreal city or not) will get slammed with a fine of $500,000 to $1 million if snowfalls of 20 cm or more are not collected within four days on major roads.
About 40 percent of all Montreal roads are in that category while the rest are allowed to remain covered in snow for much longer.
So if this sort of unnecessary operation starts happening more often, it's likely because local authorities are preoccupied with possible fines that come with not clearing snow.
This kind of frivolous "remnant clearance" is nothing new. It has been going on for decades.
ReplyDelete"Make work" is presumably the same mentality that requires those city flower pots to be watered even when it is raining, thus giving city workers something to do rather than have them sit around playing cards and bitching about their "low" salaries and overly generous retirement packages.
Again speaking from my snow removal days in Montreal many years ago...the street may look bare but that grader is actually scraping snow (as seen in the two photos) from the curb. When days are mild, we would very often go out to scrape the curbs even though the streets were bare. The snow/slush would be left in the street where traffic and sun would soon melt it. If you had large chunks of ice, you obviously couldn't do that.
ReplyDeleteIf the slush around the curb freezes and hardens, it prevents water from going down the drains along the curb during the next warm spell. When another freeze cycle comes, it makes a real mess. Once that slush hardens against the curb, it's very hard for even a powerful grader to scrape it away. The hard ice literally pushes the machine away from the curb. Sometimes the machine will hit a patch of curb where there is no snow and the blade may smoke on the bare pavement. That's easy enough to fix by adjusting the blade. But you probably won't because it's in the right position for the next section of snowy curb.
Very good point, JM.
ReplyDeleteI've lost count of the times I wish I had a long stick with me to punch a hole in snow or ice which has blocked a sewer, resulting in a huge puddle which can linger for days.
Most plows should have a shear-pin which allows the blade to give way in the event it hits a curb or other obstacle harder than ice, but if during the summer months you find yourself wondering what has caused those weird grooves and tracks on the asphalt, more than likely they are the result of thoughtless city workers who didn't adjust their equipment properly.