Cleaning up winter’s mess: Spring maintenance begins in Mississauga

Winter weather is tough on Mississauga’s roads, infrastructure, parks and trails. The arrival of milder weather means the City of Mississauga’s annual spring maintenance and cleanup work can begin. This work includes filling potholes, repairing sidewalks, sweeping streets and repairing sod damage caused by snow clearing. This is important work that helps keep everyone moving safely. This annual work also includes preparing Mississauga’s parks, sports fields and trails for the busy spring and summer seasons.

Roads and infrastructure

In the spring, the following maintenance and cleanup work takes place on the City’s roads and infrastructure, weather permitting:

• Repairing potholes and asphalt on City roads, including residential streets and bike lanes.
• Inspecting and repairing sidewalks.
• Repairing sod damage caused by snow-clearing operations.
• Cleaning up litter on roadways, catch basins and drains.
• Sweeping streets and flushing hard surfaces. This includes curb-face sidewalks, traffic islands, hard-surfaced boulevards, roads, curbside gutters and on-street bike lanes.
• Removing illegal signs.

Potholes and asphalt repair

In the winter, freezing and thawing can cause water under asphalt to expand and contract. This can lead to potholes and cracks in the roadway. City crews have already started repairing potholes, with several hundred tonnes of hot mix asphalt to be used throughout the warmer months. While the majority of potholes are repaired in the spring, the City repairs potholes year-round when temperatures are warmer and the weather allows for it. This is more efficient, cost-effective and helps keep roads in good condition so that residents and visitors can travel safely all year long.

Spot a pothole? Report it. Call 311 or submit an online service request.

Sod damage repair

When clearing snow from sidewalks, the City’s plow operators try to minimize sod damage as much as possible. Unfortunately, some sod damage may still occur. Sod damage can happen for a variety of reasons:

• Sod that has overgrown onto the sidewalk can easily get caught by the plow.
• When the ground is wet and not frozen (typically early and late in the winter season), sod is easily lifted and torn.
• Deep snow can hide sidewalk edge lines, making it difficult for the plow operator to see the sidewalk’s boundaries.
• Obstacles like landscaping, low hanging branches and vehicles parked on the sidewalk may force the plow operator onto the grass to avoid hitting them.

Residents can report sod damage to the City by calling 311 or reporting it online. Staff will investigate the damage. If the repair requires new sod, it will be replaced in the spring (May to June).

Street sweeping and cleaning

In April, weather permitting, the City begins sweeping streets and flushing hard surfaces to clear litter and debris left behind from the winter. This includes sweeping curb-face sidewalks, traffic islands, hard-surfaced boulevards, roads and bike lanes. Street sweeping prevents pollutants from entering local waterways, like Lake Ontario, through Mississauga’s stormwater system.

Parks, trees and trails maintenance

Crews will be working hard to get parks, green spaces and trails ready for the busy spring and summer seasons. While work takes place in the City’s parks, trails, woodlots and natural areas all year long, work in the spring typically focuses on the following:

• Cleaning up litter.
• Preparing plant beds for planting.
• Cleaning up trails and turf areas and maintaining natural areas.
• Preparing and maintaining sports fields for the upcoming season.
• Cutting grass and cleaning up plant beds along certain City boulevards.
• Mulching leaves.
• Planting trees in parks and on boulevards.
• Proactively inspecting trees in parks and on boulevards for any health or safety concerns that need to be addressed.
• Trimming and pruning trees, hedges and bushes away from roadways and sidewalks.
• Maintaining recently planted trees. This includes burlap removal, minor pruning, replacing tree stakes and reforming mulch rings.

Residents can support the City’s spring maintenance activities by calling 311 or submitting an online service request to report potholes, illegal signs and damaged or debris-covered catch basins. They can also report damaged sidewalks, curbs and sod, litter or dumping, damaged trees, dead or unhealthy trees and those in need of pruning.

If work is taking place on your street, remember to be alert and slow down when driving by. Give crews and equipment lots of space and respect all site barricades and signs.

For more information about the City’s street and road maintenance, visit mississauga.ca/roads.

For more information about the City’s tree maintenance, visit mississauga.ca/trees.

To learn more about the City’s parks, visit mississauga.ca/parks.

Tags

• Parks and Forestry
• Roads and Traffic