Ontario handles the year-round highway maintenance of 16,900 kilometres of provincial highways and 2,880 bridges. We oversee winter maintenance work completed in 31 contract areas across the province, including four Public-Private-Partnership maintenance areas.
Before a storm
There are 192 road weather information stations across Ontario that monitor current conditions and provide site-specific forecasts. The stations help maintenance crews:
prepare the right equipment and materials before a storm
act once the storm arrives
adjust their activities as conditions change
Maintenance crews patrol highways and monitor weather conditions so they can prepare the right equipment and materials.
During a storm
At the start of a winter storm, maintenance crews deploy their equipment within 30 minutes to plow, salt and sand highways. They are active 24/7 to clear highways.
After a storm
After a storm, maintenance crews continue work to clear highways and perform clean up and repair work.
Ontario’s highway standard
WWe have some of the highest winter maintenance standards in North America. After a storm, we commit to fully clearing snow from highways. We call this the bare pavement standard. During 2023-2024, we met the standard 98 per cent of the time. However, a severe storm may delay the clearing of the highway despite the best efforts of maintenance crews.
The target time frame to restore bare pavement depends on winter traffic volume and highway type. The table below outlines Ontario’s highway standards:
Highway type
Average vehicles per day during winter in Southern Ontario
Average vehicles per day during winter in Northern Ontario
Bare pavement standard
Freeway/urban highway
More than 10,000
More than 10,000
Bare pavement within eight hours of the end of a winter storm
ON Trans-Canada Highway
Not Applicable (see Note below)
Not Applicable (see Note below)
Bare pavement within 12 hours after the end of a winter storm
Major highway
2,001-10,000
1,501-10,000
Bare pavement within 16 hours of the end of a winter storm
Intermediate highway
1,001-2,000
801-1,500
Bare pavement within 24 hours of the end of a winter storm
Minor highway
501-1,000
401-800
Centre bare pavement within 24 hours of the end of a winter storm and fully bare pavement when conditions permit
Local highway
Up to 500
Up to 400
Snow packed driving surface within 24 hours of the end of a winter storm. Maintenance crews plow off excess snow and apply sand where required to improve friction
Note: ON Trans-Canada highway type is specifically for Trans-Canada Highways 11 and 17.
We are committed to keeping our roads and highways safe this winter. We made improvements to winter maintenance activities, including:
improving and expanding rest area infrastructure in Northern Ontario to give people more safe places to stop and rest
installing more Road Weather Information System (RWIS) stations to provide forecasts to help maintenance crews prepare for a storm
this includes 24 new stations that will be ready to use in 2024, with 14 of the new RWIS stations in Northern Ontario
we have also added 16 solar-powered mini-stations in remote locations across Northern Ontario
increasing the proactive use of anti-icing liquids to make it easier and faster to clear highways
adding winter features to the Ontario 511 app to help drivers plan their route, such as Track My Plow which allows drivers to track the location of snow plows on provincial highways
requiring contractors to clear Ontario Trans-Canada highways to bare pavement within 12 hours of the end of a winter storm, four hours faster than the previous standard
Winter maintenance equipment and materials
There's no one size fits all response to winter storms. Winter maintenance crews use different maintenance equipment and materials depending on:
weather
highway conditions
traffic levels
Plows
Once two centimetres of snow and slush accumulates, contractors clear the snow using:
snow-plows
spreaders
combination trucks (trucks that spread salt or sand while plowing)
tow-plows
On multi-lane highways, plowing is done in echelon. Plows are staggered across all lanes in one direction. Echelon plowing clears all lanes at once by passing a ridge of snow from one plow to the next. It’s the safest and most efficient way to remove snow on multi-lane highways.
Remember to leave plenty of space when driving behind a working snow-plow. Never pass a working snow-plow.
Materials
Salt
Salt spreading helps to melt snow and ice to prevent it from sticking to the highway. Salting also makes plowing more effective.
Sand
Sand provides traction on slippery surfaces, especially when it is too cold for salt to be effective.
Anti-icing liquid
Anti-icing liquid can be sprayed on a highway before a storm to prevent snow and ice from sticking to the highway.
Pre-wetted salt
Pre-wetted salt is regular road salt with anti-icing liquid applied before it is spread on the highway. It helps the salt stick to the highway surface and helps melt ice and snow faster to reduce the total amount of salt needed.
Contractors responsible for winter highway maintenance
We have 31 maintenance areas in place to provide winter maintenance services, including four Public-Private-Partnership maintenance areas.
We track and report our winter maintenance performance by year and contract area, and for Ontario overall.
Since severe weather and extreme cold can delay the clearing of highways, we also track the Winter Severity Index — a scale of 0-100 based on a combination of weather factors such as snowfall, temperature, freezing rain and others.
Winter season
Performance target (%)
Provincial achievement (%)
2023-2024
90
98
2022-2023
90
97
2021-2022
90
95
2020-2021
90
98
2019-2020
90
97
2018-2019
90
96
2017-2018
90
96
2016-2017
90
97
2015-2016
90
97
2014-2015
90
92
2013-2014
90
94
2012-2013
90
95
2011-2012
90
96
Performance by contract area
Select a contract area to see the winter maintenance performance over the last five years in that location.