Winter Road & Sidewalk Maintenance

Although winter weather is often random and unpredictable, City snow removal efforts are not. The City is committed to providing a high level of snow removal service throughout the winter season. 

Using a combination of City staff and contractors, plowing, sanding and salting is performed with consideration to safety, environmental and budget concerns. Your cooperation in helping to keep streets clean and safe is appreciated.

Winter Maintenance Updates

The City's Operations department monitors Environment Canada's weather forecasts and advisories and uses traffic cameras and RWIS stations to prepare for expected weather and align winter maintenance activities accordingly. Maintenance updates are posted below during business hours, Monday to Friday.

Monday, December 9

Posted at 11:42am

We continue to monitor road/weather conditions and respond accordingly.

Priority and Secondary Roads: Combo units were dispatched at 10:15am to salt priority/secondary roads, operation is in progress.

Residential Roads: City salt trucks were dispatched at 10am to salt residential roads, operation is in progress.

Priority and Residential Sidewalks: Priority and Residential sidewalks units continue to salt sidewalks. This operation is in progress.

Downtown and Parking Lots: City staff were dispatched at 10:30am to salt parking lots. City staff were dispatched at 11:30am to salt sidewalk approaches downtown.

On-Street Overnight Parking Restrict​ions

As per the Overnight Parking By-law, on-street parking is not permitted 3–6am within the Downtown Business Improvement Area, and on other City streets 12:01–7am, December 1 through March 31*. Outside of this time period, overnight on-street parking is not permitted if a "Winter Maintenance Event" is declared. *There are possible exceptions. Get full details about overnight parking restrictions

Levels of Service

The City has developed carefully planned levels of winter road service to combat the diverse weather conditions we see every winter. A combination of City-owned trucks and contracted units provide effective snow plowing services to Barrie roads through our Priority, Secondary, and Residential routes system (see Levels of Winter Service Map).

The Levels of Service system assigns priority to all major roads with the highest traffic in Barrie as either Priority or Secondary routes. To ensure the safety of drivers and pedestrians, these major routes are serviced on a 24/7 basis when necessary. Residential routes (all residential streets in the city) are attended to regularly, but less often than Priority and Secondary routes.

With a system of service based around snow levels and maintenance times, we can ensure clear and safe roads are maintained efficiently.

The City's levels of winter maintenance service meet the Provincial Minimum Maintenance Standards for Municipal Highways.

Winter Maintenance Technology

City's Responsibilities

The City's winter maintenance responsibilities include over 1,600 km of roads, over 600​ km of sidewalks, 25 parking lots, 72 crosswalks, 113 bus shelters, 708 bus stops, & downtown sidewalk intersections. Please note:

  • Pedestrian walkways are not maintained for winter operations.
  • Snow removal operations around super mailboxes are handled by Canada Post.
  • Winter maintenance on highways and off ramps—including the 400 series north of County Road 89 and 2-lane highways around Barrie (90, 26 & 27)—is overseen by the Ministry of Transportation.

Residents' Responsibilities

Frequently Asked Questions

General

Road Plowing

Sidewalk Plowing