Clearing local streets quickly and efficiently is a tradition in which the City takes considerable pride — but despite being honed and perfected over the years, it still takes a lot of planning and effort to pull it off each time.

"Citizen expectation is high," Director General Duncan Campbell says of the City's $3-million snow-removal operation, which is now in full swing. He is quick to credit the "unsung heroes" of the Public Works Department who work day and night to plough and remove tons of the white stuff from Westmount's streets every time it snows.

Marianne Zalzal, interim head of the Public Works Department, points out that snow removal personnel require special skills — especially in Westmount, where plough operators often have to negotiate their way between such obstacles as parked cars, retaining walls, trees and parking meters.

"Westmount requires special attention," she says, citing the community's many schools, parking on streets, and permit parking for residents.

The whole process often begins long before the first snowflakes appear. "Planning and preparation are most important for handling a storm," says Zalzal. Whenever a storm is expected, Roads and Parks Superintendent John Monteiro and Roads and Parks Foreman Mike Hunter keep a close eye on weather reports and determine how many trucks and men will be needed — and whether they will need to bring in outside contractors to augment the Public Works force. They make the required phone calls, and soon everything is ready.

Once a snowstorm hits the area, Westmount's streets are cleared in three phases. First, while the snow is still falling, the roads and sidewalks are ploughed and the snow is left at the side. Salt and sand are distributed on the ploughed areas.

"We go through a lot of road salt — 7,000 metric tonnes," says Zalzal. In order to spread efficiently, she said, the salt is pre-wet with calcium chloride.

Second, the snow left by ploughs at the side of the roads is picked up by blowers and dump trucks. This phase can last up to three days, with an average of three crews working throughout Westmount. Some of the side streets may wait until the end to be cleared, as the City must first pay attention to its four priorities: the main arteries (such as Sherbrooke Street, Ste. Catherine Street and The Boulevard), school zones, commercial areas and fire routes.

For the third phase, once most of the snow has been removed and dumped, crews return to the streets and picks up any bits of leftover snow that may have been missed by the ploughs and blowers.