Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Frequent snow removal is a standard now in all but the most northern places, al-
though until the 1950's many northern cities, especially in Finland, accepted the
winter snow accumulation, so that horse-drawn sleighs and sleds could be used
on snow-packed roads. Today this is unacceptable in most big cities which have
various policies for clearing roads. Hence, cities have a stock of expensive snow-
clearing equipment that often must be quickly applied to the roads after snow. In
Canada cities vary widely in the costs of snow clearance, with Calgary, a city of
1.2 million people and an average of 100 cm of snow allocating c$ 22.2 million
for the task in 2008, whereas Edmonton and Winnipeg spent much higher sums of
c$ 46.7 million and c$ 29.8 million respectively. The differences are not a conse-
quence of variations in the amount of snow, but local policy in the degree of clear-
ing that is considered necessary, linked to the reluctance to pay taxes to finance the
clearing. In Calgary only the main roads and bus routes are normally cleared as
soon as possible after a snow fall, which has led to a fleet of 67 sanders and snow
ploughs and nine graders. In spring there is a need to clear the over 40,000 t of sand
and gravel that had been placed on the road in winter to prevent skidding. Calgary's
policy is based on the assumption that the typical warming Chinook winds of win-
ter, due to its location near the mountains, will eradicate much of the snow build-up
in other roads surfaces in winter. Unfortunately these winds vary in their frequency
in winter, so there are many years in which the snow is not cleared by this means,
which becomes a real problem in years of greater snowfall such as 2008-2009 and
2013-2014, when almost double the average snow levels were experienced. Despite
frequent widespread citizen complaints City Council rejected the move to a 'bare
pavement' policy of clearing all streets in September 2009, after a city report esti-
mated it would cost c$ 100 million annually, which would have resulted in a 2 %
increase in city taxes to implement such a policy. However the debate over snow-
clearing remains an issue of much dissention in the city. By contrast, Edmonton, the
capital city of the province of Alberta, 300 km to the north, is outside the Chinook
belt and not only removes snow from the main roads but also grades residential
streets to maintain a snow-packed condition, which explains a budget over twice as
high as Calgary. It is also adopting a system that ensures bicycle paths are cleared of
snow in winter to try and make this commuting option an all-season one. The varia-
tions in snow clearing policy can be seen by the fact that Toronto, with a smaller
winter period, has some of the most rigorous requirements among Canadian big cit-
ies, with city regulations requiring the clearing of all roads down to bare pavement
within 15-20 h of a snowfall, with expressway ploughing after a fall of 2.5 cm,
main roads after 5 cm and side roads after 8 cm of snow accumulation. Places that
only occasionally have snow rarely invest in sufficient snow cleaning equipment
and suffer accordingly in their periodic winter episodes, as can often been seen in
the chaos affecting Britain's main airports and roads after a large snowfall occurs.
Pedestrian circulation
in older settlements in winter was often helped by the cre-
ation of high connecting pavements between houses, such as in Hammerfest, where
steps down from the pavements outside houses and shops to the roads allow for
snow accumulation on the roads. In Newfoundland older houses often had a door in
the second story to facilitate exits when snow accumulation buried the lower levels.
