Snow piles still too big for weather event to be lifted

The City of Barrie is still digging out, transporting 30 kilometres of snow to local banks every week.

It’s been six weeks since the City of Barrie declared a significant weather event and there’s still too much snow for the declaration to be lifted.

“It’s just bike lanes and the width of the roadway so we’ve got to get those turn lanes cleared,” says Dave Friary, director of operations with the City of Barrie.

Those turn lanes and giant snowbanks scattered across the city are making simple maneuvers a guessing game at times.

The city says it is removing about 30 kilometres of snow from local banks every week. The works yard no longer has the room to take the unwanted snow so fully loaded trucks are now hauling it to this City-owned site on McKay Road day and night.

The city has about 4,000 fire hydrants, most of them covered in snow. City crews were out Thursday tackling them one by one.

The fire department says if residents are able to clear the snow from the hydrants in front of their homes, it would help.

“We have had some experiences where locating a hydrant is difficult,” Barrie Deputy Fire Chief Eric MacFadden. “So it does pose a problem. We just have to strategize other ways to work around those problems.”

Sidewalks have been a real challenge for many people this winter. Some people were forced to avoid them all together.

The City says its sidewalks are plowed down to what’s called a snow pack level. They can be as much as eight inches at times and the City says when it warms up, it becomes slushy and difficult to navigate.