Director Robinson continued presenting the Roads 101 presentation beginning with a discussion of potholes. He explained how potholes were created and what type of hole can be classed as a pothole per the Minimum Maintenance Standards (MMS) that are provincially regulated. He brought in a visual representation of two types of potholes as defined by MMS and the class of roadway they might appear on. The City does not have any Class 1 roads (e.g. Hwy 401) and Class 6 roads are not subject to MMS per the provincial legislation. On a Class 2 road (e.g. CKL Rd 36 or 121) a pothole is a hole 8cm deep with a surface area of 800cm2. According to MMS Legislation, staff have 4 days to respond to those once they are aware of them. On the other classes of roads, a pothole on a paved road is 8cm deep with a surface area of 1000cm2. Staff have 7, 14, or 30 days to respond depending on the road class. Potholes on non-paved roads are larger again according to MMS legislation. Director Robinson emphasized that he has staff patrolling roads every day to capture potholes that meet these criteria and respond to them first. Other holes are addressed as resources (staff and material) allow.
Other topics of the presentation included prevention of potholes, repairing of roads, grading, brushing and winter control. Lastly, he discussed the Case Management System used to report resident concerns. In 2023, nearly 5700 cases were assigned to Public Works, largely flagging issues above and beyond regular or legislated duties.