Road Repair             

  • Potholes

Potholes are formed when water gets below the surface of the road through cracks in the pavement and then expands and contracts.

When it’s cold, the water freezes and expands causing the pavement to bend or crack. Then when the weather gets milder, the ice melts and the pavement contracts, leaving areas where more water can get in. If this freeze/thaw cycle happens many times, the road can become very weak.

Regular weight of traffic passing over weakened areas can cause the surface of the road to collapse which causes potholes.

Due to this freeze-thaw cycle, pothole issues are most common in the late winter and early spring.

The City uses its own crews to patch potholes year-round. Patching efforts typically ramp-up during the late winter and early spring periods as needed.

We predominantly use cold mix for patching in the winter and blown bitumen emulsion mix in the summer months. The city may also require asphalt patching depending on the severity of the pothole. However, during the winter, local asphalt plants shut down; therefore cold mix patching is used.  

  • Replacement and patching

The City of Temiskaming Shores is responsible for 212 km of roadway and approximately 111 km is paved. These roads are paved, treated or gravel and range from class 1 to 6 and every one of these assets are crucial to the functionality of the city. Therefore, it’s important that all levels of maintenance are performed in order to keep a safe and healthy transportation network.

Replacing asphalt can be performed in many different ways that include Resurfacing, Rehabilitation or full reconstruction. These different forms of maintenance exist and are chosen for different reasons wither it’s in conjunction with infrastructure repair or strictly financial.

Sidewalk Repair

The City has a sidewalk inspection and spot repair program for the maintenance of the approximately 40 kilometers of city-owned sidewalk.
If a sidewalk is found to be broken or raised a temporary patch will be put in place or grinding of the sidewalk will be carried out as quickly as possible. If required, the sidewalk slab(s) will be noted for replacement at a later date as part of the annual sidewalk repair program. However, unplanned sidewalk repairs or replacement may be required due to infrastructure repairs.

Street Sweeping & Spring Clean-up

The annual spring clean-up includes sweeping all paved roads and some hard surfaces, to remove debris and materials that have accumulated throughout the winter season and could pose dangers to motorists, pedestrians/cyclists as well as clogging up catch basins and inlets.

  • Sweeping phases

Street sweeping is done in several phases:

Sidewalks and bus stop pads are cleaned first by using sidewalk sweepers.

City streets are swept clean by the use of a mechanical sweeper truck and other equipment such as loaders with special attachments and dump trucks. Water is first sprayed onto the road to minimize airborne dust and then the material is picked-up leaving behind a much cleaner surface. This operation may be repeated several times depending on the amount of material needed to be removed.

  • Parking during clean-up

Residents are asked to help crews clean the city by not parking vehicles on the streets while street sweeping activities are being conducted in the area.

Typical hours of operations are Monday to Friday, between 6:30am and 3pm beginning in April (weather dependant). Hours of operation may also very depending on the location that needs to be swept.

Street Illumination and Signs

  • Street lights

Street light maintenance and installation provide an overall safe environment for vehicles and pedestrians during periods of diminished light or darkness. Lighting on roadways and walkways is currently maintained by Miller Maintenance Group on behalf of the city of Temiskaming Shores.

  • Report a problem with street lighting

To report concerns with street lighting, contact the public works department at 705-647-6220.

Common street light maintenance issues include:

  • Burnt out lights
  • Flickering lights
  • Lights left on throughout the day
  • Damaged poles
  • Opened lens

  • Traffic signs

Traffic signs are meant to guide, warn and regulate traffic flow. A city crew maintains all existing signs and replaces them when they wear out or when they get damaged (temporary signs may be installed during the winter season), and installing new system elements when approved by the appropriate authority.

Winter Maintenance 

  • Winter maintenance operations

Although winter weather is often random and unpredictable, city snow removal efforts are not. The city is committed to providing a high level of snow removal service throughout the winter season. Plowing, sanding and salting are performed with consideration to safety, environmental and budget concerns. Your cooperation in helping to keep streets clean and safe is appreciated.

2022 Winter Operation Plan

  • Overnight on-street parking restriction

As per the Overnight Parking By-law, on-street parking is not permitted from 12am to 7am, November 1 through March 31. This ensures the city can completely clear streets of snow and that large emergency vehicles can get down the street.

  • Levels of service

The City has developed carefully planned levels of winter road service to combat the diverse weather conditions we see every winter. A combination of City-owned trucks and rented units provide effective snow plowing and removal services to city roads through our Priority and Secondary route system. 

This system assigns priority to all major roads with the highest traffic in the city. To ensure the safety of drivers and pedestrians, these major routes are serviced on a 24/7 basis when necessary. Secondary routes (all residential streets in the city) are attended to regularly, but less often than Priority routes.

With a system of service based around snow levels and maintenance times, we can ensure clean and safe roads are maintained as efficiently as possible. A combined fleet of 4 plow trucks, 2 sanders, 5 graders and 2 sidewalk machines are responsible to maintain Priority routes 24/7 and Secondary routes.

Service Information
 

Priority Road Routes
  • A maximum level of approximately 5cm of fallen snow is permitted to remain on the road.
  • Cleanup to be completed approximately 6 hours after end of snowfall
  • Maintain road surfaces by keeping them as bare as possible through continual use of all assigned staff, equipment and materials required for the conditions.

Secondary Road Routes
  • A maximum level of approximately 8cm of fallen snow is permitted to remain on the road.
  • Cleanup completion dependent upon when snowfall concludes, ranges from 12-24 hours after end of snowfall.
  • Maintain road surfaces in a snow packed condition during a storm by use of all assigned workers, equipment and materials.

Priority Sidewalk Routes
  • A maximum level of approximately 5cm of fallen snow is permitted to remain on the sidewalk.
  • Cleanup completion dependent on the amount of fallen snow and associated tools used.
  • Maintain sidewalks in a snow packed condition.

Secondary Sidewalk Routes
  • A maximum level of approximately 8cm of fallen snow is permitted to remain on the sidewalk.
  • Cleanup completion dependent on the amount of fallen snow and associated tools used.
  • Maintain sidewalks in a snow packed condition.

Note: The city’s levels of winter maintenance service meet or exceed the Provincial Minimum Maintenance Standards for Municipal Highways.

  

  • Responsibilities

The Corporation of the City of Temiskaming Shores is responsible for winter maintenance on 212 km of road, 40 km of sidewalk and 44 locations that consist of parking lots, bus stops, laneways and facilities.

Winter operations are carried out by a combination of full-time road employees and, as required, contractor services, including three Heavy Equipment Operator / Crew Leaders, one Heavy Equipment / Crew Leader – Mechanic, twelve Equipment Operators and four Water and Sewer Operators reporting to the two Superintendents. City road crews will then be separated into Day, Evening, Night and weekend shift to deliver these services to the public.

  • Major snow events

A significant weather event is an approaching or occurring weather hazard with the potential to pose a significant danger to users of the highways within a municipality.  Refer to Significant Weather Event FAQ’s for more information.

  • Snow bank removal and disposal

As a result of snow plowing operations, snow accumulates at the side of roads as windrows or mounds. The City starts snow removal operations when these windrows reach volumes that create a nuisance or hazard to pedestrians and motorists and to maintain capacity for subsequent snowfalls.

The objective is to commence removal operations in Priority 1 locations as soon as practicable after becoming aware that the snow bank accumulation is greater than 60 cm and 120 cm in Priority 2 locations.

Experience over the years has shown that the City has the capability and capacity to remove and dispose of 2700 cubic meters of snow per night shift. One average snowstorm requires three night shifts to complete all required removal work in approved designated areas.

Snow removal involves the use of in-house snow blowers, front-end loaders, motor graders and city owned dump trucks as well as contracted dump trucks. 

 Frequently Asked Questions
 
  • The plow always leaves snow at the end of my driveway. Why can’t this be cleared by the city?

 

Unfortunately, plow drivers cannot control the amount of snow that leaves the end of the wing plow. All residents in Temiskaming Shores are responsible for the removal of driveway windows as the city does not provide this service. A private contractor may be a suitable option for those looking for this level of service.

 

  • Why doesn’t the city apply salt on secondary routes?

 

Salt is applied to primary routes only. The level of service on primary routes is to keep them as bare as possible. These are roads that include bus routes, roads with heavy traffic or higher speeds or steep grades. Pickled sand (sand mixed with roughly 5% salt) is applied to secondary routes. The level of service on these roads is to maintain a snow-packed condition. The pickled sand provides traction for drivers and pedestrians to get around safely on these roads.

 

  • Why do we salt a road and then come along and plow it all off?

 

In a continuing snow storm, we apply salt to the road surface early in the storm. This causes a melting action that prevents snow that falls later from freezing to the road surface. When the plow does come along, the road gets cleaned down to the pavement and we do not get a frozen snow pack that is very difficult and expensive to remove later.

 

  • Why is the plow driving with its blade up?

 

Reasons a plow might be travelling with the blade up:

The plow is heading to and from routes.

Salt was recently put on that section of road, so plow drivers will lift the blades in order to not scrape off the freshly laid salt.

Blades are typically up when the trucks are performing anti-icing due to freezing rain warning.

 

  • Why is the plow scraping the pavement?

 

For larger snow falls it is common to do an initial pass to clear streets and then follow up with a second pass to clear and new fallen and residual snow and to wing back the banks make room for snow storage that will be required for future storms. Residential streets are also plowed when they become soft or slushy to prevent ruts, potholes and icy conditions from developing when the temperature drops and the road re-freezes. When milder temperatures are experienced it also causes additional melt water that can lead to pooling of water and other drainage/flooding problems if catch basins are covered with ice and snow. Slush is removed from the edge of road to improve drainage leading to and around catch basins during the plowing process.

 

  • Why those the sidewalk gets cleared on one side of my street but not the other until later?

 

We try to get one side of the street open on as many streets as possible as soon as possible and then come back to clear the rest. Sidewalk priorities include school zones, commercial buildings, etc. which generate a high level of pedestrian traffic.

 

  • Why are the sidewalks often first, then the plow comes by after and pushes the snow back on the sidewalks?

 

We frequently have issues with snow plows filling in sidewalks that are in close proximity to the road. Staff do their best to coordinate sidewalk clearing to take place following road plowing however this is difficult during larger and extended storms when multiple passes are required to clear roads. Sidewalk machines with blowers travel much slower than road plows making it difficult to keep up. This issue is especially common on bridges: bridge decks are cleared on a regular basis but can become built up with snow overtime due to limited space for snow storage on these structures. Road crews carries out snow lift/removals on bridges as required to make room for continued maintenance.

 

  • Why do I see sidewalk plows driving on the road?

 

The city has a system of priority routes on arterial roads and secondary routes on residential roads that are each assigned to various operations. Sidewalk plows often travel on roads to and from their route or work location as it is a quicker method of travel than by sidewalk.