Freezing rain strikes again

By Jessica Clement 

BELLEVILLE – Brutal weather plagued our city once again this week, leaving a stubborn layer of ice on windshields, roads and walkways.

Sleet and freezing rain fell from the sky for nine consecutive hours this past Tuesday, and the Environmental and Operational Services Department dispatched their winter maintenance workers to clean up the mess.

As is always the case when bad winter weather hits, arterial and collector roads took priority, as they are high-capacity and see the greatest speeds. This includes North Front Street and Dundas Street. Next came residential streets, and lastly, cul-de-sacs. Dead end streets have a lower volume of traffic and must be cleared using both a plow truck and a front-end loader in order to remove the snow that accumulates at the end of the cul-de-sac, according to the city department. There are far fewer front-end loaders than plow trucks, leaving these streets with the short straw.

“The city of Belleville also maintains over 220 kilometres of sidewalks which are divided up into six routes,” said Joseph Reid, road supervisor for the city of Belleville.

The EOSD does its best to prepare for these slippery events, monitoring accumulation as the storm hits and preforming anti-icing on when it begins. Rock salt will be applied to select roads to help stop and reverse the effects of ice on the roads. This salt will lower the freezing point of water, but only to a certain extent. Rock salt is only useful in temperatures above -11 C. A sand/salt mixture will be applied to residential streets providing traction, as sand is an abrasive material. However, sand is only effective on top of already formed ice, as it has no melting properties. Once it is buried over, it must be reapplied.

“The sand and the salt help to melt the ice but with it being so cold out we’re just having to sand as much as possible. The salt loses its capability to melt the ice in these colder temperatures,” said Reid.

The sand/salt mixture offers duel benefits for both the city department and drivers on residential roads. While it is cost efficient – sand being $10 a ton compared to salt being $90 a ton according to Reid – low-volume streets must be treated differently for ice.

“We put the salt in the crown of the road – no road is actually flat, there’s a raised centre and it goes down towards the sides for drainage purposes – and this helps to melt from the centre out. The cars’ tires help to break it up and to help it melt. On residential roads there aren’t as many cars to pound that salt down so you have to add sand for traction,” said Reid.

The City of Belleville has residents covered when it comes to avoiding slips and falls on icy walkways and stairs, providing free sand for use on private property, available for pickup at two separate locations. With no limits to homeowners, the only catch is it is a bring-your-own shovel and pail engagement.