Slush in Winnipeg is more than a clearing issue, there are mobility challenges too

Winnipeg looks like less a winter wonderland at the moment and more like, “Whoops! I just spilled my slurpee.”

But Michael Cantor, manager of street maintenance for the City of Winnipeg, says crews are on it. “We started plowing the sidewalks and pathways yesterday,” he said, adding that most sidewalks should be cleared up in the next day or so.

But, it’s not totally that simple.

Cantor said the unusually mild January weather has created some slush-moving obstacles. With properties on one side and windrows — big piles of snow leftover from plowing — on the other. “The water’s trapped,” he said.

That’s not all. “Part of the problem is that we have windrows with snow that are melting onto the surface of the sidewalk. So, it’s an ongoing thing,” Cantor said.

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Such an issue doesn’t bode well for people with mobility challenges, said Melissa Graham, executive director of the Manitoba League of Persons with Disabilities.

When sidewalk surfaces aren’t hard, they become a huge barrier, and people can get stuck. “My (electric wheel)chair is about 500 pounds, so it sinks in that very easily,” Graham said. “When I sink in, it’s not that I’m a little bit stuck, it actually creates a rut really quickly, that can be quite difficult to get out of.”

Wednesday was a particularly hard day for her, and could have been dangerous for others.

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“It was like the snow turned to mush overnight. Right? I got stuck about three or four times. And I am lucky. I live in a neighbourhood where people are, like, comfortable pulling over and helping me,” she said.

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Others might not have had that help.

Lisa Smyrichinsky, safety aid coordinator with A & O: Support Services for Older Adults said slush also poses a risk for seniors and the elderly.

“Not really knowing if the ground is firm underneath you, can definitely be a fall hazard,” she said. “We do kind of lose our ability to balance the same way that we did when we were younger.”

Cantor said crews will try “to be proactive and move (slush) as much as possible.” But, he said, “I foresee some challenges next week. I hope they will have not too many, but we’re here to address as much as we can with the tools we have.”

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He said if there are any problem areas, to call 3-1-1. Though, Graham wonders, “Who has the time in their day? It’d be so much better if we had a better snow-clearing policy.”

The city’s snow clearing and ice control policy does not include the clearing of “windrows of snow plowed across private approaches and/or walks and resulting from sidewalk clearing operations” by municipal crews, a measure implemented in 1993.

Instead, the city said it’s up to property owners.

It also says the city won’t plow certain sidewalks until five centimetres of snow has accumulated, “or equivalent local drifting conditions,” and an inspection says they must be cleared.

Graham said a new campaign has emerged to show the city how important snow, slush and ice removal are. It’s called Winnipeg S(NO)W Plow.

“What we’re trying to do is encourage people in the city of Winnipeg to send us their photos of improperly cleared snow so we can report that to the city, but also show the city this is a citywide problem,” she said.

“This isn’t this isn’t like a problem of just a few individuals,” she said. “The city really needs to have a snow clearing policy that, reflects the experience of 2024.”

Smyrichinsky said if you see someone struggling to use a sidewalk, ask if you can help them, and “if they’re comfortable with you approaching them.”

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We all have a role to play when it comes to keeping the area around our homes and property accessible, Smyrichinsky continued.

She said preventfalls.ca is a great resource for people learn how to help prevent falls.

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