Road maintenance ahead of schedule, but line-painting must wait

The lines of the crosswalk on 15th Avenue near Jarvis Street, and across from the soccer fields, have worn down and will need to be repainted. A staff report said the city has 595 pedestrian crossings that need painting and a total of 459 km of work, including roadways.

City staff are a full two months ahead of their street sweeping schedule but will still have to wait until May to start filling in disappearing roadway lines.

Sweeping started so much earlier this year due to mild weather and no major snow events, a staff report to city council said.

"Sweeping minimizes impacts to the airshed, reduces bicycle hazards and improves the visual aesthetics of the city."

The main job is picking up leftover traction material after the winter season, when between 15,000 to 20,000 tonnes are spread across sidewalks and roadways. That requires sweeping and flushing of about 550 kilometres of roads and 150 km of sidewalks.

Typically that begins in mid-April, but staff started on Feb. 10 this year. Everywhere in the bowl has already been swept, with outlying areas - Hart Highway, College Heights and Blackburn - to be finished this month. Everything else should be complete by May.

"What's tying our hands from doing the line painting sooner?" asked Coun. Brian Skakun at Monday night's meeting. "Because it is a critical issue."

Aside from restrictions set by Environment Canada in 2012 to narrow roadway marking between May 1 and October 15, council heard now is not necessarily the optimal time for line-work.

"Safety is an issue for our staff on some of the high volume arterials and collectors. We need to do that early in the morning," said Blake McIntosh, the city's roads and fleet manager, and now it is too dark.

"Also ambient temperature plays a role. If it's two or three degrees in the morning the paint will not dry, which causes tracking and is unsightly and requires touch ups."

Staff said it's most efficient to have most of the roads ready to go before the contractor starts so it "can paint routes continuously and minimize additional mobilization costs to the city."

After environmental regulations demanding use of organic compounds the city has "experienced a decrease in paint performance."

Last year it wasn't the performance of the paint so much as the performance of the painters that caught the city's attention. Wobbly and doubled-up lines streaked the city streets and led to the cancellation of R&N Maintenance Western's two-year contract and a 15 per cent refund from the company - or roughly $15,000 back in council coffers.

"Sub-standard quality, accuracy and scheduling led to the termination" of the lineal line painting and painted hand work contracts.

This year, both of these contracts were awarded to Yellowhead Pavement Markings Inc.

"Yellowhead held the previous roadway paint marking contracts and have provided quality performance in the past," the report said, noting the company is on a one-year contract

Yellowhead will be charged with covering 595 pedestrian crossings, 463 stop bars and 609 directional arrows, for a total of 459 kilometers of paint-work.

Due to "excessive paint wear" along 15th Avenue, from Foothills Boulevard to Highway 97, staff are already planning for a second coat come fall in a new pilot project.

"Expansion would incur additional funding," the report noted. "The contracted cost of this pilot project will be in addition to the 2016 budget."

Fine dust from sweeping can have an impact on air quality, noted Coun. Terri McConnaughie, who praised Public Works' plan to start using trucks with removable tankers to offer more flushing.

"I'm really glad to see that additional flushing to get rid of that fine silt that also adds greatly to the air particulate is being entertained," she said. "I think in the past it hasn't been given enough fanfare."

In the past, city council approved $500,000 for sidewalk work, divided evenly between new sidewalks and the 2016 Sidewalk Rehabilitation Program, which covers wheelchair ramp improvement projects.

It costs about $3,000 for each ramp upgrade, McIntosh said. Staff based this year's list off service requests, city inspections and the volume of requests or hazards associated with certain wheelchair ramps.

Coun. Jillian Merrick praised staff for working with local accessibility groups to determine the best locations for upgrades.

"We do have a bunch of money for sidewalks, but it's about half of what we were spending years ago," she said. "Not a lot to play with."

But Skakun said the city is a far cry from where it once was with street care.

"It seems like we're getting caught up," said Skakun. "We're not one of the worst roads in the province anymore and I think that's great news and the residents appreciate it."