What is with... those deep ruts caused by sidewalk plows?
I have lived on Pleasant Street for five winters and five springs. Each spring, the snow melts and I survey the damage to the front lawn. For five springs in a row, I have found the lawn badly torn up from sidewalk plow damage, making it prone to erosion. I call 311 about this issue each year, and someone comes to repair the damage. I then install reflective markers each fall. In spite of these calls and preventative measures, the damage returns every spring. A walk around the neighbourhood in springtime reveals that this happens along many local sidewalks, front lawns, and retaining walls.
Sidewalk plowing is a service provided by the municipality1. But the people who plow the streets and sidewalks are usually not municipal employees. Of the approximately $37 million the municipality spent on winter operations in the 2024/2025 year, approximately $31 million went to contractors. These are companies who, as the result of a tender process, receive a contract from the municipality to be on call with equipment and labour after each snowfall. There is no one company that handles street and sidewalk clearing in HRM; instead, there’s a patchwork of different contracts by zone.
According to Laura Wright, HRM spokesperson, “The contracts are lump sum, so there are no changes to the contract value due to frequency or amount of snowfall.” Elmsdale Landscaping has held the contract for sidewalk clearing in our neighbourhood since 2019.
Sidewalk clearing makes sense for a landscaping company: summer equipment can be repurposed in the winter for sidewalk clearing, and winter work offers more stability in a seasonal industry. And the majority of Elmsdale Landscaping’s business is in selling sod and soil. Repairing damaged sod is bread and butter for them.
I reached out to Elmsdale Landscaping for this story to understand more about the equipment they use and training for plow operators, but they did not respond in time for publication. A Facebook post from the company from December of last year indicated they were hiring Kubota sidewalk plow operators in Dartmouth at a wage rate of $35 an hour, for 12-hour shifts.
If you have an issue with sidewalk clearing – either in the winter or the spring– you can call 311 or email contactus@311.halifax.ca.
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Correction: Thanks to Marg Moody for noting that this article incorrectly stated that sidewalk clearing in the HRM was the responsibility of property owners prior to 2013. In fact, sidewalk clearing has a complicated history in the HRM — long cleared by the municipality in Dartmouth, Bedford, and Halifax County, with property owners in Spryfield, Armdale, and peninsular Halifax responsible for clearing prior to winter 2013 (and before amalgamation). Marg says sidewalk clearing for those living in Dartmouth was a stipulation for joining the HRM. ↩︎