Highlights from our summer maintenance operations

The City of Vaughan’s Public Works department works hard year-round to keep Vaughan clean, safe and beautiful. Now that we’ve said goodbye to summer, our crews have switched gears to focus on seasonal maintenance for fall and winter. 

As we wrap up, here are some of the highlights:

Litter cleanup

The City’s spring-cleaning blitz began in March, with crews collecting litter from Vaughan’s parks and open spaces, such as paths and trails. Madvac – the City’s litter collection vacuum – was busy collecting litter and debris from Vaughan sidewalks. A total of 627 tonnes of litter were collected this summer.

Shrubs and flowers                                                      

Shrub bed planting and maintenance (pruning, mulching, weeding, litter cleanup and watering) took place regularly throughout the summer. Crews installed 735 hanging baskets and more than 800 planters this year. As we transition into fall, we’re planting approximately 1,170 chrysanthemums city-wide and an additional 580 annuals to enhance our autumn displays.

Street sweeping 

The City's street-sweeping program begins in April each year, and it takes approximately eight to 10 weeks to complete one cycle across the city, depending on the weather. The City performs street sweeping across approximately 7,000 kilometres of roads annually. Looking ahead to fall, we are ready to begin the third round of street sweeping soon.

Boulevards

The City maintains municipally owned boulevards along roadways, with 12 grass-cutting rotations and one debris-removal rotation this year. Approximately 1,699 bags of debris were collected from boulevards. 

Potholes and road maintenance

Throughout the year, staff perform routine patrols across the City’s 2,200 lane-kilometres to help keep Vaughan’s roads in a state of good repair. City crews have repaired 3,400 potholes so far in 2024. The City also inspects more than 1,200 lane-kilometres of sidewalks annually for any defects and will schedule repairs – this work is ongoing. 

You can report potholes or cracked or damaged asphalt to Service Vaughan at 905-832-2281,  service@vaughan.ca or online through vaughan.ca/ServiceVaughan. 

 

Road safety

Road safety is a top priority for the City. Crews have installed more than 1,200 signs since the spring to improve safety, mobility and traffic operations. Signage includes radar message boards, regulatory and warning signs, flex signs, Community Safety Zone signs, and more. New traffic calming measures, such as speed cushions, have been placed at six locations, and planter boxes have been placed at two locations to help reduce speeds on municipal roads and keep our most vulnerable road users safe.

Trees

Regular tree maintenance operated at full capacity this summer, and we completed 1,088 tree planting work orders so far in 2024. Any hazards that require removal, such as fallen branches, continue to be responded to in priority sequence. 

Water, wastewater and stormwater 

This summer, the City inspected more than 110 kilometres of storm sewers, 60 kilometres of sanitary sewers, 220 maintenance holes, 9,110 fire hydrants and 245 curb boxes – also known as water service valves. In addition, staff collected more than 2,050 drinking water samples during the spring and summer to ensure our drinking water remains safe and reliable.

To learn more about our seasonal maintenance operations, visit vaughan.ca/seasonal.

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