Halifax residential sidewalks are lowest clearing priority

It's tough enough for pedestrians to get around after a storm, but it's even harder if they're visually impaired.

Just ask Troy Nauffts.

"There's nothing really plowed, especially away from the main routes. Nothing's plowed," he said Wednesday.

Nauffts, who is visually impaired, said the condition of the sidewalks are so bad, he's been forced to take extreme measures.

"I climb snowbanks six feet high and wheel through people's yards to get around them," he said. "This cleanup doesn't look like they touched anything."

The Halifax Regional Municipality said Wednesday evening that 75 per cent of roads and 50 per cent of sidewalks had been cleared in the Halifax area.

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Tiffany Chase, a spokeswoman for the city, said crews are out "in full force" and there are 120 different pieces of sidewalk-clearing equipment working at any given time.

She said there are a few reasons why some sidewalks haven't been cleared.

"There are different service standards," she said.

The first priorities for clearing sidewalks are downtown Halifax and Dartmouth, followed by sidewalks on transit routes and schools. Cleaning up sidewalks on residential streets is at the bottom of the priority list.

As the streets are plowed, that snow gets pushed on to the sidewalks and necessitates another clearing, said Chase.

Bradley Duke, a pedestrian, had a rough day on Wednesday while walking to get to his bus stop, Duke said he had to walk on the street because the sidewalks weren't clear.

"It sucks," he said.

On the final leg of his journey, after leaving the bus terminal in Dartmouth and walking toward his workplace, he had to climb over a bank of snow to get on his way.

"I walked up it and my foot fell through it and I probably bruised my leg up," he said.

Duke was walking with a noticeable limp and figured he might have to leave work early because of the injury.