The city of Montreal has gone ahead with plans to rent 10 high-powered snowblowers to deal with the city’s snow.
The cost of the two-month rental is $5.262 million, including labour.
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Officials say this winter has been atypical for several reasons.
Usually, Montreal gets an average of 190 centimetres of snow in the winter, but with over a month to go before the official beginning of spring, total accumulation is already at 184 centimetres.
WATCH: Montreal snow piled up high
That isn’t the only problem though, cold temperatures have led to reduced snowmelt, meaning more snow has had to be removed from city streets.
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In an average winter, the city removes 12 million cubic metres of snow. On Feb. 12, that number was nearing 16 million.
The machinery was deemed necessary to maximize space at Montreal’s two newly authorized snow dump sites, one at the old Blue Bonnet site, the other near Angrignon Park in Lasalle.
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The city was forced to find new locations as current dumps are at, or near full capacity.
The city has already gone over its $157 million snow-removal budget which covers a total of five snow-removal operations. To date, the city has had to deploy its fleet of trucks and tractors six times.
For 2018, the city has increased the budget, earmarking a total of $163.3 million for snow removal.
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