Montreal has a solution to the lack of space in its snow dumps: the Blue Bonnets.
The provincial government has given Montreal permission to use the abandoned race track as a dumping ground for snow.
It is roughly the same size as the dump near Angrignon mall which is almost full, making it one of the largest dumps in the city.
Residents had recommending the city use the territory for the past month, ever since CDN-NDG ran into significant delays clearing snow from streets.
At the time borough mayor Sue Montgomery said the future housing site could not be used as a dump because of environmental considerations. Instead trucks were heading to the St. Michel quarry and getting stuck in traffic on the Met.
Montreal has 12 snow dumps that it can use and several of them are almost full. One near Highway 13 has closed.
"Two others that reached 90 percent, during the next hours we will be focusing on the snow dump that leads right to the sewers. We're using the sewer to get rid of the snow," said snow czar Philippe Sabourin.
But dumping snow in the sewers comes with its own problems.
While pouring snow into sewers allows it to be filtered of some contaminants, it is much slower. Only 25 trucks per hour can dump snow at a sewer depot, as opposed to the 100 per hour that a dump can handle.
Meanwhile the city has blown its budget for snow removal. Montreal normally budgets for five snow removal operations in a season -- and the one currently underway is the sixth since Dec. 1.
Mayor Valerie Plante said the city will have to find tens of millions of dollars elsewhere.
"At the same time we want to make sure the sidewalks and the streets are safe. So that's why we injected $6 million in this budget just for snow removal," said Plante.
The city has already announced it will buy new equipment to break up ice on sidewalks, and buy new snowblowers to create taller mountains of snow at its dumps.
Meanwhile snow continues to fall, with at least five cm forecast for this weekend.
