The City of Burlington provides snow clearing on roads and sidewalks during the winter to keep them safe and passable for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.
Throughout the season, our trained staff monitor detailed local weather forecasts and road conditions to prepare for and respond to any type of event. Crews are available 24-hours per day, seven days per week to provide timely and efficient winter road maintenance.
Road plowing priority order
As snow begins to accumulate, our snowplows clear roads in a priority order based on road classification.
- Primary and secondary roads are plowed when snow accumulation reaches five cm (or two inches).
- Local residential roads are plowed when snow accumulation reaches 7.5 cm (or three inches) and when primary and secondary road plowing has been completed.
Depending on weather conditions, snowplows and our snow-clearing equipment may need to return to primary roads to keep them clear of snow. We aim to have all roads in the city plowed within 24-hours after the snow has stopped falling.
Road plowing priority map
View our online road plowing priority map below to discover which roads are designated as primary, secondary and residential roads. Primary roads are highlighted in red, secondary roads are highlighted in blue and residential roads are highlighted in green.
You can also view a larger road priority map with our online mapping system.
Sidewalk snow clearing
We begin to clear snow from sidewalks when snow accumulation reaches five cm (or two inches).
We aim to have sidewalks cleared within 48 hours after the end of snowfall. Off-road pathways (high-volume paths only) are cleared within 72 hours after the end of the snowfall.
When snow accumulation is more than 30 cm, we aim to clear sidewalks as soon as possible but it may take longer than 48 hours.
Ice control - brine, salting and sanding
Before a winter storm, we apply a mixture of salt and water (called brine) to roadways to reduce snow and ice from building up and sticking to the road. This makes roads easier to plow and reduces the amount of salt used later. We apply brine to roadways anywhere from several days to several hours before the start of a storm, as conditions allow.
We apply salt, which effectively controls snow and ice conditions, to roads and sidewalks when surface freezing occurs. We primarily use salt when the temperature is above -10 degrees Celsius. When it is below -10 degrees Celsius, we mix salt with an additive to allow it to remain effective.
We apply sand on roadways to increase traction during slippery conditions. We primarily use sand on local roads, rural roads, sidewalks and during extremely low temperatures when salt is less effective.
Types of ice control used in each condition
- Primary roads when a winter storm is coming - Brine
- Primary and secondary roads with snowfall between one to four cm - Salted with sand used as an alternative
- Primary and secondary roads with more than five cm of snowfall - Plowed and salted, with sand used as an alternative
- Residential roads with more than 7.5 cm of snow - Plowed and sanded
- Sidewalks, multi-use pathways and transit stops with more than five cm of snow - Plowed after all roads are cleared (which can be up to 72 hours after snowfall has ended)