You shovel the driveway, go back inside, and twenty minutes later there’s a hard ridge of snow across the bottom of it. That ridge is a windrow. For a lot of homeowners it’s the most frustrating part of winter, and it’s a big reason people hire a snow company in the first place.
Here’s what a windrow is, why it shows up after you’ve already cleared, and who is actually responsible for it in Aurora, Newmarket, Richmond Hill and East Gwillimbury.
What a windrow actually is
When a plow clears your street, the blade pushes snow to the side. That snow has to go somewhere, so it ends up along the curb and across the end of every driveway on the street. The pile left behind is called a windrow.
A windrow is not the same as the snow on your driveway. The plow packs it down and mixes in slush, ice and road grit. It’s dense and heavy. After a cold night it can freeze into something closer to a curb than a snowbank. After a big storm it can be tall enough that a car can’t get over it.
Why it shows up after you’ve cleared
Road crews plow main roads first and local streets after. So it’s common to clear your driveway early in the morning, then have the street plow come by later and close it off again. It isn’t personal. It’s just the order the roads get done in.
Who plows what
Snow clearing in our area is split between different levels of government. That’s why the main road can be bare while your street is still white.
- Highways like the 400 and 404 are maintained by the province.
- Regional roads such as Yonge Street and Davis Drive are plowed by York Region.
- Local streets, courts and crescents are plowed by your town or city.
So who clears the windrow at the end of your driveway?
In most cases, you do. Most towns treat the end of the driveway as the homeowner’s job, even though the town plow put the snow there.
Some municipalities do run windrow programs. Richmond Hill has its own windrow clearing program for residential driveways. Other towns have only tried it on a small scale, sometimes with a fee and a limited number of spots, or with help reserved for seniors and residents with disabilities. Aurora, Newmarket and East Gwillimbury homeowners should not assume the town will clear it. These programs change, so check your town’s current rules before you count on one.
Don’t push it back onto the road
It’s tempting to shove the windrow back into the street. Don’t. Most Ontario towns don’t allow snow from private driveways to be pushed onto the road or sidewalk, and some will fine you for it. It’s also a hazard for drivers, and the plow will just push it back at you later. Pile it on your own property instead.
Your options for dealing with windrows
There are really three ways to handle it.
- Shovel it yourself. Get to it soon after the plow passes, before it freezes.
- Use a town program if one exists where you live and you qualify.
- Hire a snow company that includes windrow clearing.
Windrow clearing is part of our seasonal residential snow removal plan. We plow your driveway, and the ridge the town plow leaves at the end of it is covered too. The plan runs from November 1 to April 15 with automatic dispatch once 1.75 inches of snow is down.
If you only need the end of the driveway done
Some people are fine shovelling their own driveway. It’s the windrow they can’t stand. That’s who our windrow only program is for. For one season price, we clear the windrow at the end of your driveway whenever the town plow leaves 6 inches (about 15 cm) or more. It’s $320 for a townhouse with a single lane driveway, $420 for a detached home with a double lane driveway and $520 for a detached home with a triple lane driveway, before HST.
A few tips for windrow season
- Keep cars off the street during storms. Parked cars slow the plows down and make the windrows bigger.
- Clear the windrow as soon as you can. Fresh windrow snow is heavy. Frozen windrow snow is worse.
- If there’s a fire hydrant near your driveway, keep it visible. It helps firefighters find it fast.
- On collection day, put bins at the end of the driveway, not on the road or on top of the windrow.
- Check your town’s winter parking rules. Several towns restrict overnight street parking through the winter.
The short version
A windrow is the snow a road plow leaves across the end of your driveway. In most of the towns we serve, clearing it is the homeowner’s job unless a local program covers you. If you’d rather not deal with it at all, call Nathaniel at (905) 296-3589 or register online in a few minutes.