Auditor says it takes too long to clear snow from Ontario highways after storms

TORONTO – Ontario’s auditor general says drivers have faced “less safe winter highway conditions” since the province sought to cut costs in 2009 by contracting out road maintenance to the lowest bidders.

Auditor general Bonnie Lysyk says in many cases the lowest bidder for winter road maintenance contracts did not have the proper equipment to clear roads after a snowstorm, but still got the job.

Lysyk says before the change to “performance-based” contracts, Ontario’s most travelled highways were cleared about 2.1 hours after a storm, but that increased to an average of 4.7 hours by 2013-14.

Six of the 20 contracts did not even meet the province’s standard of clearing the highways of snow within eight hours 90 per cent of the time, which the auditor calls a “generous standard” compared with other jurisdictions.

After 2009, road-clearing contracts gave the lowest bidding companies “full autonomy” to decide how they would get the work done, instead of the previous criteria that also looked at the contractor’s ability to provide the services.

The auditor says contractors started using less salt, sand and anti-icing liquids on roads after the change to performance-based contracts and patrolled highways less often, “resulting in service failures.”

Lysyk says winter road contractors faced $13.3 million in fines in 2013-14 for failing to meet their targets, but the government waived $4.8 million of the fines.

“The waiving of fines has not been handled consistently throughout the province,” Lysyk wrote in her report.