Track Our Plows | Priority Road Clearing | Road Clearing Response Times | Sidewalks | Significant Weather Warning | Windrows | Damaged Mailboxes

The Town provides winter maintenance for more than 2,400 kilometres of regional and town roads (taking both sides of roadways into account) and more than 250 kilometres of walkways and sidewalks.

Although roads are salted and plowed to make them safe to travel, some snow may remain. Only major arterial roads and bus routes are continually serviced to achieve bare pavement.

In the case of a significant weather event, winter maintenance will take more time. It is important to remember to avoid travelling in severe weather unless necessary, and to drive carefully and according to weather and road conditions.

Please wait a full 24 hours after a storm has ended to contact us if your road has not been cleared. Once the 24-hour period has lapsed, contact us:

Please note: Email and phone lines are only monitored on weekdays during regular business hours, 8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

Priority road clearing

In the event of a snowfall, we deploy snow clearing resources to Town roadways. It can take between eight to 24 hours after a snowfall to finish clearing all residential roadways. In the case of a significant weather event, winter maintenance will take more time.

We prioritize snow plowing routes based on emergency service routes, traffic volumes and road use. Winter maintenance is done in the following order of priority.

Roads

The Town of Milton services its roads on a priority system, with arterial (or primary) roads serviced first, collector (or secondary) roads serviced second, and residential / local roads serviced third.

1. Arterial or primary roads and bus/transit routes
  • Major traffic corridors for traffic, transit and emergency services
  • The first to be cleared when it snows
  • Pre-treated and plowed continuously during any snowfall

2. Rural collector or secondary roads and industrial areas
  • Collect and distribute traffic between arterial or primary roads and local roads
  • Receive second priority during snow clearing operations
  • Include transit routes and streets where schools are located 

3. Urban and rural residential or local roads
  • Maintained once primary and secondary roads are serviced.
  • Treated with sand or salt depending on weather conditions.
  • Plowed when more than 5cm up to 10cm of snow falls in a single storm.

Sidewalks

After the accumulation of five centimetres or more of snow, we plow sidewalks and pathways associated with schools, transit routes and major pedestrian travel.

Residents are responsible for clearing snow on their sidewalks within 24 hours of the end of a snow or ice storm. When you clear your sidewalk, please do not put the snow on the road as per By-law No. 106-2019.

Significant weather warning

On occasion, the Town will issue a significant weather warning. This happens when Environment Canada identifies extreme weather hazards that affect Milton. 

Residents and visitors are strongly advised to use extreme caution when using roads and sidewalks and avoid unnecessary travel when a significant weather warning is issued. 

During this time, it may take staff longer than 24 hours to clear roads and sidewalks due to extreme weather.

Snow at the end of your driveway (windrows)

Plow operators work to clear snow on the roadways to keep traffic flowing. Snow coming off our plows is pushed to the right side of the road, to keep it away from traffic. This results in piles of snow at the end of your driveway called windrows. Plow operators do not intentionally block driveways with snow. Windrows are unavoidable when clearing the road for traffic.

The Town does not clear windrows; this is the responsibility of the homeowner. The Town does offer a windrow removal program for seniors and persons with disabilities.

Damaged mailboxes

We regret any inconvenience caused by recent damages to your mailbox because of our winter snow plowing operations.

We will reimburse residents up to $100 towards repairs or replacement of your mailbox. To report mailbox damage by a Town of Milton plow, please use the contact information on this page and report any damage by May 30. We will assess the damage and leave instructions on where to submit receipts.

Track our plows

Updates are being made to the Plow Tracks software and it will be tested as soon as possible. Plow Tracks will not be live to the public until this is complete.