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The Ontario government is promising to improve the safety of northwestern Ontario’s highways over the winter season.
The Ministry of Transportation explains that after a technical review of the safety and snow clearing on the two highways, they will be implementing a new ‘ON Trans-Canada” level of service with snow expected to be cleared to bare pavement within 12 hours of a snowstorm.
That’s a 4-hour improvement over what northwestern Ontario currently sees.
As well, Ontario says contractors plan to increase the use of underbody plows that better remove packed snow, compared to conventional plows, and will increase the use of anti-icing liquids. A potassium acetate solution will also be used on a trial basis.
Ontario adds that they’re planning some geometric improvements, such as removing rock in specific areas and pushing back high rock cuts to improve sunlight exposure on the roadway to help melt the snow, and they’ll be installing additional road weather information systems along each highway.