Public Works: delivering service excellence year-round
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A recap of spring
maintenance efforts and winter operations
The City’s Public Works teams provide essential services and operations to Vaughan citizens and businesses 12 months a year. Maintenance of the City’s roadways, sidewalks and stormwater systems, beautification of parks, trails and the urban tree canopy, and extensive snow-clearing operations are just some of the quality services provided year-round.
Here are
some highlights of the spring 2021 initiatives undertaken
by Parks, Forestry and Horticulture Operations, and Transportation and Fleet
Management Services:
Litter
From
March to May, the City has conducted many spring litter cleaning blitzes in Vaughan’s
parks and open spaces and has collected more than 500 bags of litter. This cleaning will continue alongside weekly park garbage
collection and turf-cutting, which began in early May.
Forestry
Regular
tree maintenance is currently operating at full capacity. Any
hazards, such as trees or branches that need to
be removed, are responded to in a priority
sequence. So far in 2021, approximately 4,200
forestry maintenance requests have been completed.
Horticulture
During March and April, the City planted approximately
250 out of the planned 550 self-watering planters throughout Vaughan. A
total of 210 annual hanging baskets and planters out of 750 began to go up on
Victoria Day and will continue into mid-June. Shrub
beds and planting bed maintenance (pruning, mulching, weeding, litter clean up and
watering) will continue to run on rotation.
These maintenance services
are part of the City’s Beautification Strategy, which standardizes where the
City should beautify, the types of plants the City should use and how often they
should be maintained based on appropriate service levels. For more information
on the strategy – currently being updated – visit vaughan.ca/horticulture.
Gypsy
Moth prevention
To help control the Gypsy Moth population, the City began city-wide
treatment of City-owned trees in April throughout heavily
infested areas. Barrier bands have been placed on more than 600 out of 1,000 trees
and effectively removed approximately 2,000 egg masses from more than 500
trees. To receive up-to-date information on the City’s continued efforts to
control the Gypsy Moth population, keep checking back at vaughan.ca/trees.
Road maintenance
As part of the City’s
efforts to keep roads clean and safe for all modes of transportation, the City
has conducted street-sweeping efforts across 2,200 kilometres of roads in
Vaughan in March and April. This initiative will continue throughout the spring
and upcoming summer months. In addition, three rounds of debris cleaning have
already been completed this spring and a third round of grass cutting in many areas
throughout Vaughan is underway – part of a yearly initiative to help keep the
city’s streetscapes clean and beautiful.
The City has replaced more
than 570 square metres of sidewalk and 54 metres of curb. A total of 676
potholes were filled in March and April to continue to achieve the high-quality
standards of Vaughan’s road infrastructure. Potholes or cracking or damaged
asphalt can be reported to Access Vaughan at 905-832-2281 or accessvaughan@vaughan.ca.
Winter
operations
Residents
of Vaughan receive high-level snow removal services throughout the winter
months to ensure everyone can travel safely. The City is responsible for
clearing approximately 80,000 windrows, more than 2,000 lane kilometres of
roads and more than 2,000 kilometres of sidewalks.
Here is
a recap of the 2020/2021 winter operations:
- A total of 46 winter maintenance events
- A total of 29 salting events – 26,000 tonnes of salt were used
- A total of nine snowplowing events
- A total of eight anti-icing events
For more
information on the City’s winter operations, visit vaughan.ca/snow.
These efforts
and more demonstrate how the Public Works teams continue to go above and beyond
to provide essential services that safeguard and enhance the quality of life in
this growing city. They reflect many priorities in the 2018-2022 Term of
Council Service Excellence Strategic Plan, including Active, Safe and Diverse
Communities; Environmental Stewardship; Citizen Experience; and Operational
Performance.
For more
information about City matters, please call Access
Vaughan at 905-832-2281 or visit vaughan.ca. To receive the City’s
latest updates as they happen, sign up for the City Update eNewsletter at vaughan.ca/CityUpdate and follow the City’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram
and LinkedIn
channels.
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