Snow Clearing

Our Operations staff salt roads and sidewalks during all winter events and initiate snow plowing operations as required. Staff work hard to clear roads and sidewalks as quickly and efficiently as possible. Our goal is to have roads cleared within 16 hours and sidewalks cleared within 14 hours after the end of a snowfall. Primary roads are plowed and salted first, followed by secondary roads.

We also clear snow windrows from the end of local, residential driveways. Generally, snow windrow clearing starts four hours after road plowing begins and takes approximately 13 hours to complete after a snowfall. Times may vary depending on the length of the storm, snow accumulation and time of day (e.g. rush hour).

Dead ends and wide bends are cleared within 24 hours after the end of a winter storm. It's important to keep these areas clear, because they can cause problems for other snow removal services.

Residents can help staff get this job done by doing the following:

• Not parking vehicles over or near sidewalks, so the path is clear for snow clearing equipment
• Not parking on the road during plowing activity
• Not shovelling snow back onto the road or sidewalks
• Not placing anything within one meter of a road, curb or sidewalk that can become hidden and cause issues for plow operators
• Clearing the snow from around fire hydrants to make them accessible in case of an emergency

For updates on our winter maintenance activities, visit our snow clearing news and notices page.

RHPlows

RHPlows is an online app that allows you to track the snow removal activities in your neighbourhood. It shows you where our road and sidewalk plows are working and where they've been. It also provides other important details, like plow-dash cam images and weather data from Environment Canada.

Track My Plow

In some situations and depending on traffic conditions, road and sidewalk plows may appear to be stopped at times. There might be a temporary gap in communication from the vehicle. There is also a short delay before data is displayed online.

Of note, RHPlows displays information about Richmond Hill's municipal road, sidewalk and windrow plowing operations only.

Major routes

Major roads, such as Bayview Avenue and Leslie Street, are Regional roads that are maintained by York Region.