Vaughan’s spring maintenance operations continue!

Litter cleanup, grass cutting, pothole repairs and more

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and everyone is out enjoying the warm weather! And to ensure you can make the most of our community this season, the City of Vaughan’s Public Works crews are working hard to keep our public spaces clean, beautiful and ready for your enjoyment.

Here is an update on our seasonal operations:

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 – has returned to Vaughan sidewalks to pick up litter and debris. Look out for Madvac in your neighbourhood! This innovation is another way Public Works staff is enhancing and expanding resources to stay on top of litter. So far 615 tonnes of litter has been collected. 

Shrubs, flowers and more

Shrub bed planting and maintenance (pruning, mulching, weeding, litter cleanup and watering) will take place regularly throughout the season. Hanging baskets and planters are being installed across the city. So far, 735 hanging baskets and more than 800 planters have been installed this year.

Street sweeping and road maintenance 

The City's street-sweeping program begins in April each year and takes approximately eight to 10 weeks to complete one cycle across the city, depending on the weather. This process prevents unwanted materials from flowing into stormwater drains, river pollution, sewer backups and road flooding. The City performs street sweeping across approximately 7,000 kilometres of roads annually. Street sweeping will continue throughout the summer and into the fall. 

Boulevards

The City maintains municipally owned boulevards along roadways not in front of or adjacent to private property. Maintenance of boulevards on private property is the landowner's responsibility. Our boulevard maintenance includes regular grass cutting and removal of debris and leaves. Approximately 615 tonnes of litter and illegal dumping have already been removed so far this year from City boulevards and right-of-ways.

Potholes

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. To date, City crews have repaired 2,118 potholes 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 throughout the spring and summer months. 

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.

Grass cutting

Biweekly grass-cutting began the last week of April and continues throughout the spring and summer, for a total of 13 cycles, each running for two weeks. 

Trees

Regular tree maintenance is operating at full capacity. The Forestry Operations team has serviced more than 697 pruning requests, 451 removal requests and inspected 857 service requests so far this year. Any hazards that need to be removed, such as fallen branches, are responded to in a priority sequence. 

Stormwater management ponds

The City maintains more than 150 stormwater ponds. The annual stormwater management pond maintenance program begins in May and wraps up by October each year to ensure the ground and bank slopes have stabilized to support this work. During this seasonal maintenance, three rounds of litter cleanup and grass cutting will be completed at each pond. Litter is collected before grass cutting, which takes place along the perimeter of the ponds. Crews completing this work move through the City from east to west on a block-by-block basis during each round of maintenance.

Catch basins

The City began removing sediment and debris from the bottom of 10,000 catch basins in May. Catch basins in residential areas are cleaned on a three-year rotation and catch basins in industrial areas are cleaned annually. Cleaning the inside of catch basins is an important control measure taken to ensure the proper flow of stormwater. Removing sediment, debris and pollutants from inside catch basins reduces the risk of flooding and prevents contaminants from entering nearby watercourses. 

Fire hydrants

Crews have begun their annual inspections of more than 10,000 fire hydrants, with more than 1,700 inspected so far. Preventative maintenance and inspections are performed annually on each hydrant across the city and includes flushing, leak testing, cap lubrication and part replacements. 

Pavement markings

The City’s annual pavement marking program begins in May, and typically continues until November, depending on the weather. In 2023, City staff painted approximately 802,000 metres of road markings. Annually, the City refreshes existing pavement markings, which includes centrelines, lane lines, crosswalks, stop bars and directional arrows. New pavement markings are also implemented to improve traffic operations across Vaughan. 

Traffic signs 

Signs are considered essential to communicating regulatory, warning and guidance information. The City inspects traffic signs for reflectivity at night to ensure they meet a minimum level of retro reflectivity, as part of the Minimum Maintenance Standards. Approximately 18,000 signs were inspected last year. Staff began replacing old or damaged traffic signs in April. 

Request maintenance service online

Did you know you can request repair and maintenance services online through Service Vaughan? Through the online portal, you can request:

• Curb, sidewalk or interlock repair
• New pavement markings
• Park, playground or splashpad repairs 
• Road and boulevard maintenance
• Sports fields, courts or skate parks maintenance
• And much more! 

Once a ticket has been created, staff will respond to requests in priority sequence.

To learn more about our spring-cleaning operations, visit vaughan.ca/seasonal.

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