Do you have the impression that Montreal’s bike paths are cleared of snow to the detriment of the sidewalks? Is this really the case? Not exactly.
More sidewalks than bike paths to clear snow
Bike lanes aren’t plowed before sidewalks, but they take much less time to clear. This is mainly because there are many more sidewalks than cycle paths.
Asked last year on this subject at the Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough council, Councilor Jérôme Normand responded that when a snow removal operation begins, “you have to imagine a labyrinth of 480 km of sidewalks, then 20 km of cycle paths.
“The devices leave at the same time and clear snow. The cycle paths were finished being cleared of snow before the entire sidewalk was cleared,” he added.
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Snow removal from cycle paths is also less complicated, because there are far fewer obstacles than on sidewalks (pedestrians, recycling bins, mailboxes, etc.).
Different devices are used to clear sidewalks and bicycle lanes. Once the snow removal is completed, the equipment that clears the cycle paths cannot be mobilized to assist the snowcats on the sidewalks.
Snow melts faster on cycle paths
Once the road is cleared of snow, the cycle paths also remain clear longer than the sidewalks.
“When there is a constant snowfall […] on the asphalt, the color is black, the sun’s rays are absorbed, it will melt more easily than on the sidewalk,” explains Jérôme Normand.
The passage of pedestrians also makes the snow accumulated on the sidewalks denser and difficult to melt.
“As soon as there is a little snow that falls after the passage of the snowcat, passing pedestrians will compact it by walking on it, which repeatedly creates a bottom on the sidewalk. The snow becomes more compacted on the sidewalk and accumulates more quickly,” specifies the municipal councilor of Projet Montréal.
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In a Facebook publication on snow removal dating from 2020, the former mayor of Rosemont François-William Croteau also affirmed that manholes in the streets and on cycle paths prevent the formation of puddles, which can turn into patches of ice on the sidewalks.
An order of priority that depends on the street
In 2021, a City public relations officer explained to 24 hours that cycle paths are cleared of snow “according to the same priority level as the street on which they are located”.
The streets of Montreal are cleared of snow according to three priority levels:
- Priority 1: major arteries, access to health establishments and schools, priority bus routes, reserved lanes and major commercial streets
- Priority 2: collector streets that link the city to rural centers, other bus routes, local commercial streets
- Priority 3: local streets and industrial areas
Snow removal operations are launched by the City as soon as 2.5 cm of snow has accumulated on the ground.
Maintain cycle paths all year round
Even if they are not cleared of snow before the sidewalks, one might wonder why cycle paths are maintained even in winter.
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Jérôme Normand affirms that these roads are maintained because they are used all year round and that they are used in winter because they are cleared of snow.
“It has been shown that the more quality infrastructure we offer, the more modal transfer will take place. It has to be user-friendly, it has to be clear to see more cyclists using it. We have a lot of data on this,” underlines the elected official.
He takes the example of the cycle path on Rue Maisonneuve, the use of which has exploded since it was cleared of snow. “We cleared it and there were 5,000 cyclists. By its second year, there were 50,000 cyclists. “It’s like that everywhere in the world,” he concludes.
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