With another significant snowfall forecasted for Kingston, Ont., on Thursday, it’s going to be slow going for drivers. However, being a pedestrian also means having patience waiting for the sidewalks to get cleared.
“I think the street clearing I would give a passing grade; it’s improved a lot,” said Kingston resident Nick Lann.
Lann said he’d rather not see a “big dump” like we got a few weeks ago.
Kyle Bolton is the city’s public works operations team manager and says priorities for snow removal are main arteries and bus routes.
“We have a priority for roads, sidewalks and bus stops,” said Bolton.
“We will focus on completing them and then move into the remaining residential areas,” he added.
Hannah Kaufman is a Kingston resident also and says she’s mostly satisfied with Kingston’s snow removal.
“In general they do a good job considering what they’re facing,” she said.
An avid walker, Kaufman says she has a couple of concerns, including the sidewalks.
“The snowplow puts a huge amount of snow and ice on to the sidewalk which makes the sidewalk more treacherous and makes it more challenging for the sidewalk plow, which means it takes longer for the sidewalks to get addressed,” she said.
There were some complaints filed with the city after the most recent storm about the sidewalks on Union Street near Queen’s University.
“We cover over 600 kilometres of sidewalks,” said Bolton.
“It’s a little slower process than the road plowing. So it takes about 48 hours to get through all the sidewalks after a snowfall,” he added.