Our town uses a plow attachment on a Bobcat compact tractor to clear the sidewalks. Theoretically, residents are responsible for clearing the sidewalks in front of their homes - but that doesn't always happen. So the DPW usually clears the sidewalks on the main roads, especially the ones leading to the school.
Of course, people still complain about this (usually people who don't have kids who walk to school).
Regarding the fire trucks, we have two fire stations in our little town - one dating from the 1930s, and the other from the 1870s. Predictably, neither can fit the typical modern fire truck; so the fire department's trucks had to be custom made.
Along those lines, most modern living room furniture will not fit in the homes in my town. We have a lot of 18th and 19th century houses and buildings; I discovered when we first moved here that even an "apartment sized" couch wouldn't fit through the doorway of our 1860 cottage. Even in my current "modern" home (i.e., built in the 1960s), it was a bit challenging to find a living room set that was scaled to the size of the space.
I was just now at 7-eleven. Monster and Red Bull side by side. It's obvious which one is European and which one is American — and size is only the most obvious hint.
We have a guy in our neighborhood who sometimes uses his teeny-tiny tractor (kinda looks like a riding lawn mower) with a small plow attachment to clear sidewalks near his home. It's very cool.
It's absurd the way American cities contort our build environment to fit the size of trucks instead of right-sizing the trucks to fit the size of the city.
We have an asphalt shared-use path running through our yard in Northern Virginia. The city recently plowed it with a skid steer, which cleared the path (good) but was wider than the concrete sidewalk that connects to the path and damaged the adjacent grass as a result (not so good).
I'd guess that a narrower skid steer would work as well as a grove tractor, and Bobcat apparently makes one that's 3' wide, but I don't know if a public works department would buy one; having 23 horsepower and a 1520 lb tipping load capacity is going to limit the usefulness of the skid steer anywhere that isn't a narrow or confined space.
Sidewalk plows are pretty normal in Toronto, we have around 300 of them. This will not stop me from complaining about the terrible job they often do with the plowing, and all the damage they cause to street furnishing like curbs, planters, trees, signs, etc. Also, when you see them coming, get outta the way.
Where I live we are lucky to even get residential streets plowed. I also wonder if a hesitation to build protected bike lanes is rooted in our notions of "efficiency", where one size fits all. An unprotected shoulder can be cleared with a standard snowplow, whereas that becomes impossible if you put a curb up, and municipalities must either decide to purchase specialized equipment or do without.
The sidewalk plow wouldn't work on most sidewalks, with phone poles and such. Urbanist sidewalks are even worse, with trees right in the middle of the walk. A simpler solution would be paying city employees to run snowblowers.
We used to have a lot more urban-sized vehicles. Parking patrols and mailmen had special Cushman three-wheelers. Smaller delivery vans were often required in residential neighborhoods.
I'd have liked to have seen that baby plow go through my local park/bike trail after the first snow storm of the year. The entrance to the park at the end of the street was not cleared at all. My appearance at an Alexandria Parks meeting and 311 request didn't move the needle either.
I suppose I ought to fill out another one - very slushy today. I cleared the sidewalk in front of my house within 24 hours, why can't the city clear the path to the library, pharmacy and major bus stop as well?
Perpetually lost in this recurring conversation of sidewalk snow plowing is economies of scale and the American willingness to tax ourselves.
Even using mechanized means of snow removal is incredible labor and capital-intensive for sidewalk and bike lanes relative to streets.
My city contracts for plowing of certain sidewalks and paths at 49 cents per square foot. That’s $122 for the average lot frontage. Per snow event. We get on average 50 snow events per year.
Taxpayer-funded sidewalk plowing alone would cost each household twice the average household annual tax for *all* city services.
There are few if any cities in America who would tax themselves enough to pay people to shovel their sidewalk for them.
Our town uses a plow attachment on a Bobcat compact tractor to clear the sidewalks. Theoretically, residents are responsible for clearing the sidewalks in front of their homes - but that doesn't always happen. So the DPW usually clears the sidewalks on the main roads, especially the ones leading to the school.
Of course, people still complain about this (usually people who don't have kids who walk to school).
Regarding the fire trucks, we have two fire stations in our little town - one dating from the 1930s, and the other from the 1870s. Predictably, neither can fit the typical modern fire truck; so the fire department's trucks had to be custom made.
Along those lines, most modern living room furniture will not fit in the homes in my town. We have a lot of 18th and 19th century houses and buildings; I discovered when we first moved here that even an "apartment sized" couch wouldn't fit through the doorway of our 1860 cottage. Even in my current "modern" home (i.e., built in the 1960s), it was a bit challenging to find a living room set that was scaled to the size of the space.
I was just now at 7-eleven. Monster and Red Bull side by side. It's obvious which one is European and which one is American — and size is only the most obvious hint.
We have a guy in our neighborhood who sometimes uses his teeny-tiny tractor (kinda looks like a riding lawn mower) with a small plow attachment to clear sidewalks near his home. It's very cool.
I wrote an appreciation of our local sidewalk plow in my newsletter, The Practice of Community. Please check it out.
It's absurd the way American cities contort our build environment to fit the size of trucks instead of right-sizing the trucks to fit the size of the city.
This is a good subject to think about.
We have an asphalt shared-use path running through our yard in Northern Virginia. The city recently plowed it with a skid steer, which cleared the path (good) but was wider than the concrete sidewalk that connects to the path and damaged the adjacent grass as a result (not so good).
I'd guess that a narrower skid steer would work as well as a grove tractor, and Bobcat apparently makes one that's 3' wide, but I don't know if a public works department would buy one; having 23 horsepower and a 1520 lb tipping load capacity is going to limit the usefulness of the skid steer anywhere that isn't a narrow or confined space.
https://www.bobcat.com/na/en/equipment/loaders/skid-steer-loaders/s70
I grew up just outside of Rochester! I miss their efficiency and dedication to plowing.
Sidewalk plows are pretty normal in Toronto, we have around 300 of them. This will not stop me from complaining about the terrible job they often do with the plowing, and all the damage they cause to street furnishing like curbs, planters, trees, signs, etc. Also, when you see them coming, get outta the way.
Where I live we are lucky to even get residential streets plowed. I also wonder if a hesitation to build protected bike lanes is rooted in our notions of "efficiency", where one size fits all. An unprotected shoulder can be cleared with a standard snowplow, whereas that becomes impossible if you put a curb up, and municipalities must either decide to purchase specialized equipment or do without.
I’m still waiting for someone to suggest that property owners ought to clear the street in front of their houses.
The sidewalk plow wouldn't work on most sidewalks, with phone poles and such. Urbanist sidewalks are even worse, with trees right in the middle of the walk. A simpler solution would be paying city employees to run snowblowers.
We used to have a lot more urban-sized vehicles. Parking patrols and mailmen had special Cushman three-wheelers. Smaller delivery vans were often required in residential neighborhoods.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwvMOIvkq1c&t=5s&ab_channel=PeriscopeFilm
In my town, the sidewalk plows drive into the street when there’s an obstacle in the sidewalk (we also barely have curbs).
I’m just happy they MOSTLY plow the sidewalks we have.
I'd have liked to have seen that baby plow go through my local park/bike trail after the first snow storm of the year. The entrance to the park at the end of the street was not cleared at all. My appearance at an Alexandria Parks meeting and 311 request didn't move the needle either.
I suppose I ought to fill out another one - very slushy today. I cleared the sidewalk in front of my house within 24 hours, why can't the city clear the path to the library, pharmacy and major bus stop as well?
Perpetually lost in this recurring conversation of sidewalk snow plowing is economies of scale and the American willingness to tax ourselves.
Even using mechanized means of snow removal is incredible labor and capital-intensive for sidewalk and bike lanes relative to streets.
My city contracts for plowing of certain sidewalks and paths at 49 cents per square foot. That’s $122 for the average lot frontage. Per snow event. We get on average 50 snow events per year.
Taxpayer-funded sidewalk plowing alone would cost each household twice the average household annual tax for *all* city services.
There are few if any cities in America who would tax themselves enough to pay people to shovel their sidewalk for them.