We’re busy working to keep Vaughan clean!

The end of summer may be upon us, but our efforts to keep Vaughan beautiful never stop. The City of Vaughan’s Public Works crews are working hard to keep our public spaces clean and ready for your enjoyment.

Here is an update on our seasonal maintenance 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 been busy collecting litter and debris from Vaughan sidewalks. Look out for Madvac in your neighbourhood! This innovation is another way Public Works staff enhances and expands resources to stay on top of litter. So far, 1,146 tonnes of litter have been collected this year. 

Shrubs, flowers and more                                                   

Shrub bed planting and maintenance (pruning, mulching, weeding, litter cleanup and watering) will take place regularly throughout the summer. We’ve installed 735 hanging baskets and more than 800 planters this year!

Street sweeping and road maintenance 

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. 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 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.

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 3,299 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. 

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

City crews and contractors make 13 grass-cutting cycles across the city, every 14 days, in parks, along boulevards and in open spaces. Maintenance of grass along regional roads, such as Major Mackenzie Drive, Rutherford Road, Bathurst Street, Keele Street and Dufferin Street, is the responsibility of York Region.

 

Trees

Regular tree maintenance is operating at full capacity. The Forestry Operations team has serviced more than 1,122 pruning requests, 722 removal requests and inspected 2,545 service requests so far this year. Any hazards that need to be removed, such as fallen branches, are responded to in a priority sequence. 

Hard surface general repairs program

The City's annual general repairs program is in full swing. This initiative includes replacing concrete curbs and sidewalks, restoring park pathways, and rehabilitating asphalt pavements as required. So far in 2024, the City has replaced more than 1,400 square metres of sidewalks, 850 metres of curb and gutter, 6,000 square metres of asphalt pavement and surfaces, as well as an additional 2,700 square metres of asphalt and concrete walkways throughout City parks.

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. Three rounds of litter cleanup and grass cutting have been 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 are busy undertaking annual inspections of more than 10,000 fire hydrants, with more than 1,700 inspected so far this year. Preventative maintenance and inspections are performed annually on each hydrant across the city and include 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. So far in 2024, approximately 600,000 metres of pavement markings have been completed. The City refreshes existing pavement markings annually, which includes centrelines, lane lines, crosswalks, stop bars, directional arrows and more. New pavement markings are also implemented to improve traffic operations across Vaughan. 

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 summer maintenance operations, visit vaughan.ca/seasonal.

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