Snow in Montreal should be cleared by New Year's Day, city says

New year, no snow piled up on Montreal's streets and sidewalks, that is.

About 15 per cent of the snow has been cleared from roadways and sidewalks across the city's 19 boroughs.

By Monday, New Year's Day, the 25 centimetres of snow that fell recently should all be gone, said Philippe Sabourin, city spokesperson.

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There are fewer people on the road over the holidays, he said, which makes the job easier.

But as always, the issue is parked cars. Last year, the city had 46,000 cars towed. Of that, 43,000 were towed during snow removal operations.

"Every towing slows down operations by an average of 10 minutes,"said Sabourin.

The city'spriority is to remove snow on main arteries, reserved bus lanes, entrances to hospital and narrow streets.

How to avoid getting towed

Sabourin stressed that drivers have to pay attention to the signs on the street, or consult the Info-Neige app or website to get information on where to park their cars.

The app can help with figuring out which streets to avoid due to snow clearing, but also which streets are clear so you know where you can park.

But in case of a conflict between the app and the signs on the road, it's always the signs on the road that take priority, he said.

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The city also makes 2,158 parking spots available free for those who need a place to put their cars overnight.

The cold shouldn't have an impact on the snow removal operations, Sabourin said.

But the frigid temperatures do mean that crews have had to start applying sand, not salt, to streets and sidewalks, since salt has no impact when it's this cold outside.