Roads slowed to a crawl — and expect more delays

Toronto Mayor John Tory said Monday it was likely to take more than 72 hours — after plows finish their first pass — to clean up after the day’s storm as the city activated measures to accelerate the process.

“It was a good day to leave the car at home and I think tomorrow would be the same thing and maybe even the next day after that,” Tory said at a news conference Monday afternoon.

The city activated a major snowstorm condition before 6 p.m. on Monday. It prohibits parking on designated snow routes for 72 hours, at the risk of fines or towing. Though the measure can be cancelled before the 72 hours are up, Tory said it’s likely to be extended as crews set out to plow the piles of snow.

OPP Const. Kerry Schmidt said Monday the 401 eastbound to the northbound Highway 400 was inaccessible because of transport trucks blocking lanes and stuck in the snow. Schmidt said many of the drivers had been on the highway since before 7 a.m.

Airport taxi driver Sukhi Sidhu was one of the many stuck on the 401 Monday. Speaking from inside his vehicle, he said his car had been in park and stuck on the highway for eight hours and counting.

“It hasn’t moved a single centimetre since 7:30 a.m.,” Sidhu said. “No food, no water. It’s pretty terrible. There (are) kids in cars here, there (are) some elderly folks, there (are) some people who were working overnight shifts and they’re just trying to get home.”

Firefighter Lindsay Parry, who was making his way home from a 24-hour shift, had been stuck on the 401 since 8:30 a.m., and said there hadn’t been any movement. “I’ve been turning my truck on and off every so often just to warm it up and to conserve the fuel because I have no idea how long I’ll be here for,” he said in a phone interview Monday.