HALIFAX – Walking along a Gottingen Street sidewalk on Thursday, Frances Palliser-Nicholas froze for a moment. Then she climbed over a snowbank and walked along that instead. She said it was the only way she could avoid a lengthy, ankle-deep puddle that filled the sidewalk.
The sidewalks “are in terrible shape,” she said. “It’s very bad.”
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Many sidewalks around Halifax are snow-covered, icy and filled with puddles. It has made life frustrating for people trying to navigate the city on foot this week.
“Sidewalks are solid ice and slippery like an ice rink,” said Tom Crilley.
“It’s frustrating. I realize it’s a big amount of snow for the city to handle, but it doesn’t feel like it’s been taken care of properly.”
It’s been almost three days since a winter storm blanketed the city in snow and ice, and many pedestrians say they expected more from snow-clearing crews.
“A little bit more street clearance or sidewalk clearance would be preferred for sure,” said Connor Shocrylas.
Darrin Natolino, Halifax’s superintendent of winter operations, said the city has been doing all it can.
“We try our best to achieve our service standards, which would be our goal at any given time, but under blizzard conditions and the amount of snow we had the other day, it certainly takes a little longer than what would be ideal,” he said.
According to Natolino, an overnight drop in temperatures the past few days has made salt ineffective, which means it’s been almost impossible to get down to bare asphalt or concrete.
“We’re very happy with how progress is going and haven’t had any performance issues,” he said.
Sidewalk conditions in Halifax could get worse before they get better, however, as another deep freeze is expected to hit the region Thursday night.
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