Editing Snow removal (section)

==Clearing by municipalities==
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{{also|Snow removal in Montreal}}
[[File:Wagons removing snow in New York City, 1908.jpg|thumb|Line of horse-drawn wagons hauling snow in New York City, 1908.]]
Cities clear snow on a much larger scale than individuals.<ref name="McKelvey1995">{{cite book|author=Blake McKelvey|title=Snow in the Cities: A History of America's Urban Response|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xx9CZkssBfIC|year=1995|publisher=University Rochester Press|isbn=978-1-878822-54-3}}</ref> Most cities in areas that get regular snowfall maintain a fleet of snow clearing vehicles. The first to be dispatched are [[winter service vehicle#Gritter|gritter]]s who do some plowing but also salt the road.  The salt, via [[freezing point depression]], helps melt the snow and ice and also gives vehicles more traction. Later, usually when the snow has ceased falling, snow plows, [[front end loader]]s with snowplow attachments, and [[grader]]s cover every street pushing snow to the side of the road. Salt trucks often then return to deal with any remaining ice and snow. The trucks generally travel much faster than the plows, averaging between 30 and 40 kilometers per hour.   Most cities thus have at least twice as many plows as trucks. Smaller narrow body plows, with [[Caterpillar tracks]] or huge snow tires salt and clear [[sidewalk]]s in some cities, but in many others with less snowfall and/or less pedestrian traffic individuals are tasked with clearing the sidewalk in front of their homes. [[Ecological]] movements often oppose this use of salt because of the damage it does when it eventually washes off the roads and spreads to the environment in general. Credit for the concept that municipalities should remove snow from public roadways usually goes to [[Edward N. Hines]], a celebrated early 20th century transportation thinker who also was the first to put a painted center line stripe on an automobile-era road.

In cities where snow steadily accumulates over the winter it is also necessary to remove the piles of snow that build up on the side of the roads known as [[windrow]]s or snowbanks. There are a number of methods of doing this. ''Pulling snow'' is done when temperatures rise high enough for traffic to melt snow. The windrows are then broken up and spread over the road. ''Casting'' is the moving of snow by means of a shovel or plow to nearby public lands. On boulevards or highways ''winging back'' is done, which consists of pushing the snow banks further from the road. The most expensive option, but necessary when there are no nearby places to dump the snow, is to haul it away (known as the loading stage). This is most often done by large self-propelled snowblowers that gather the piles of snow at the side of the road and load it into [[dump truck]]s. The snow is then dumped on the outskirts of town, or in a nearby lake, river or harbor. (Some jurisdictions have banned dumping snow into local bodies of water for environmental reasons since the collected snow is contaminated with melting salt, motor oil, and other substances from the roads they were removed from.) [[Snowmelter|Snow melting machines]] may be cheaper than moving snow, depending on the cost of fuel and the ambient temperature.<ref>[http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/transportation/snow/torontomelt.htm City of Toronto: Transportation Services – Snow management<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

The windrows created by the plows in residential areas often block driveways and imprison parked cars. The snow pushed there by any plow is a dense, packed version of "normal" fallen snow. When the temperatures are significantly below freezing this packed snow takes some of the characteristics of solid ice. Its removal is nearly impossible without mechanical means. Recently, windrows created in residential neighborhoods by city operated snow plows have resulted in the snow plow operators being assaulted by angry homeowners. 
[[Image:Chasse neige.jpg|thumb|A street plow in [[Quebec City]], Canada]]
The largest roads and highways are the first to be cleared; roads with steep hills or other dangers are also often a priority. Streets used by [[bus]]es and other [[mass transit]] are also often given higher priorities. It often takes many hours, or even days, to cover every street in a city. In some places, a [[snow emergency]] will be declared, where automobile owners are instructed to remove their vehicles from the street (or one side of a street). If cars are in the way when the plows come around, they may be hauled away by [[tow truck]]s.  Some communities have standing snow emergency rules in winter, in which vehicles may not be parked on streets overnight, whether it snows or not. After smaller snow storms only main roads are cleared while residential ones are left to be melted by passing traffic. Decisions on immediate removal versus "natural melting" can be hard to make because the inconvenience to citizens and the economy in general must be weighed against the immediate effect on the snow removal budget at that particular moment in the season.

It is estimated that Canada spends $1 billion annually on snow removal.<ref>[https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/ice Ice<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In large cities with heavy snowfalls like [[Montreal]] and [[Ottawa]], the snow clearing expense for each season is an important part of the seasonal public works budget and each snow storm provokes a major logistical operation involving thousands of employees working in shifts 24 hours a day. The effort can vary greatly depending on the amount of snow.  Montreal gets about 225&nbsp;cm of snow each winter and spends more than $158 million Canadian (2013)<ref>[http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/pls/portal/docs/page/service_fin_fr/media/documents/budget-2013-ACTIVITES.pdf Montreal 2013 Budget]</ref> each year to remove it.  [[Toronto]], with about 50 per cent more population and 28 per cent more road surface, gets only 125&nbsp;cm of snow a year and spends about half that.<ref>[http://www.canada.com/finance/moneywise/story.html?id=2fe90713-1df8-4f24-9a00-fdbeb648426a Cost of Snow (December 24, 2004)<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060227035139/http://www.canada.com/finance/moneywise/story.html?id=2fe90713-1df8-4f24-9a00-fdbeb648426a |date=February 27, 2006 }}</ref> The higher cost in Montreal is due to the need to perform "snow removal" (the loading stage where snow is hauled away) consistently, necessitated by both the higher snowfall amounts and fewer melting days there, as opposed to simple "snow clearing" that usually suffices in other cities with less snowfall.

In [[Helsinki]], Finland, the amount of snow transported from streets and properties to [[snow dump site]]s during the [[Winter of 2009–2010 in Europe|winter of 2009–2010]] was 210,000 truckloads, equaling over 3 million cubic meters.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Helsingin lumitalkoissa on rikottu kaikki ennätykset |author=Jenita Sillanpää |journal=[[Helsingin Sanomat]] |date=2011-03-06 |url=http://omakaupunki.hs.fi/paakaupunkiseutu/uutiset/helsingin_lumitalkoissa_on_rikottu_kaikki_ennatykset/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110308182058/http://omakaupunki.hs.fi/paakaupunkiseutu/uutiset/helsingin_lumitalkoissa_on_rikottu_kaikki_ennatykset/ |archive-date=2011-03-08 }}</ref>

Snow removal impacts the design of city infrastructure.  Where possible, street boulevards are wider to accommodate the windrows and sidewalks are not right next to the street.  [[Fire hydrant]]s will have tall flags to locate them under the windrows.  Reflective traffic [[lane marker]]s embedded in the roadbed is not possible (or much harder) due to risk of damage by plows.  Access to snow dumping locations (e.g. ravines) by heavy equipment is also planned.

The employees who take part in snow removal are generally the same workers who do road maintenance work during the summer months, but in some US cities garbage trucks are also equipped with plows and used for snow removal.  Many smaller US communities sign contracts with insurance companies, under which the insurance company assumes the risk of a heavy winter.  The insurance company of course sets the rates such that averaged over time they will make a profit; the town is willing to overpay for snow removal in mild winters in order to avoid the risk of running dramatically over budget in the occasional severe winter.

Large organizations such as [[university|universities]] and [[airport]]s also often have their own mechanized snow clearing force.  Public transit systems generally clear bus stops while [[post office]]s clear around [[Post box|mail box]]es. [[Railroad]]s have their own snow clearing devices such as [[rotary snowplow]]s.

Airports, with their associated runways, taxiways and ramp areas are an exception to the use of salt, as the metals used in aircraft construction will corrode causing safety issues.