Snow Removal

Track Our Plows | Priority Sequence | Sidewalks | Windrows | Damaged Mailboxes

Milton operations crews keep roads as clear as possible for the safety of drivers and emergency response vehicles during snowstorms. We are committed to providing snow removal service throughout the winter.

The Town provides winter maintenance to more than 1,615 kilometres of regional and town roads (taking both sides of roadways into account) and more than 250 kilometres of walkways and sidewalks.

Track our plows

Use the Plow Tracks tool to follow our snow clearing progress.

A road will turn green when a snow clearing vehicle passes over the road, this includes either plowing, sanding or salting. Any one of the snow clearing activities on the road causes the status change. The road will remain green for 36 hours after.

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

By email
By phone at 905-878-7252 ext. 2500

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

Priority plowing sequence

We maintain roads in a priority sequence, beginning with primary roads (e.g., Derry Road, Ontario Street), secondary roads (e.g., Trudeau Drive, Savoline Boulevard), and then residential roads.

Primary and secondary roads

Winter road maintenance, such as salting or sanding, begins before a winter event. We begin to plow when there is two centimetres of snow accumulation on primary or secondary roads. Then, two to 12 hours after the snow stops, we clear down to the pavement on primary roads.

Residential roads

We begin to plow residential roads after we have cleared primary roads and once 10 centimetres of snow has accumulated. We start to plow as soon as the snowstorm has ended. We plow these roads down to a snow-packed standard.

Snow plow routes

These maps show the snow plow routes for:

Road clearing response times

Road clearing response times based on snow accumulation
Classification	Road type	Examples	Treatment standard	Minor event	Significant event	Major event
A	Primary/arterial	Main St., Ontario St.	Bare	2 to 3 hours	2 to 4 hours	4 to 12 hours
B	Secondary/collector	Woodward Ave., Laurier Ave.	Bare	4 to 5 hours	4 to 10 hours	8 to 12 hours
C	Rural collector and industrial	15 Side Rd.	Centre-bare	5 to 8 hours	5 to 10 hours	10 to 16 hours
D	Urban and rural residential	Residential through street	Snow packed-sand	8 to 16 hours	10 to 20 hours	18 to 24 hours
E	Urban and rural residential (other)	Cul-de-sac	Snow packed-centre piled	14 to 16 hours	16 to 20 hours	20 to 24 hours

Call us if your street has not been cleared more than 24 hours after a storm has ended.

Glossary of terms for snow clearing

The following terms appear in the table below:

Bare standard is full width bare pavement
Centre-bare standard is partially bare pavement from centre of roadway onward
Snow packed standard is pavement with packed snow for a running surface
Minor event means less than five centimetres of snow and icy conditions
Significant event means five to 30 centimetres of snow
Major event means more than 30 cenimetres of snow

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.

You are responsible for clearing snow on sidewalks adjacent to your property that are not designated on our sidewalk plow routes. When you clear your sidewalk, please do not put the snow on the road as per By-law No. 115-2005.

Sidewalk clearing response times

Please not that Milton Transit bus stops are cleared approximately 24-36 hours after a snow event.

Sidewalk clearing response times based on snow accumulation
Route	5 cm to 12.5 cm of accumulation	12.5 cm to 30 cm of accumulation	More than 30 cm of accumulation
Primary	10 hours	18 hours	As soon as practical
Secondary	18 hours	36 hours	As soon as practical

Sidewalk plow routes

These maps show the snow plow routes for:

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 diverted to the right of the road, to keep it away from the roadway and traffic. This can result in piles of snow at the end of your driveway called windrows.

Plow operators do not intentionally block driveways with snow. To remove windrows, pile the snow on the right side at the end of your driveway.

We only clear windrows as part of the windrow removal program.

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, 2022. We will assess the damage and leave instructions on where to submit receipts.