Program Description:

To maintain all paved streets and lanes in a safe driving condition for vehicle and pedestrian traffic.

Activities include:

• Inspection of streets on a regular basis;
• Annual crack filling;
• Pothole repairs;
• Repair of various paved street failures such as dips, frost boils, etc.;
• Milling of rutted sections identified through inspections;
• Temporary cold mix repairs to potholes and small excavations during the winter months.

Each year, the City of Saskatoon schedules a variety of preservation programs to maintain the existing street infrastructure. Any roads requiring repairs which are identified through customer inquiries or the field staff, that have not been scheduled for a major repair in the current year, will receive routine maintenance, primarily consisting of pothole patching and maintenance.

Pothole and Pavement Cut Patching

Every effort is made to patch potholes and pavement cuts as soon as possible in the spring. Permanent patching with hot mix asphalt is completed on dry streets following the same priority system used for snow clearing in the winter. Temporary patching on streets that are still wet with snowmelt is done manually with a cold mix.

Blade Level

For roads with extensive utility settlements resulting in rough surface conditions and drainage problems, an asphalt surface patch is placed by a grader over most of the road surface. To enable the asphalt to properly adhere and to reduce the porosity of the surface, an asphalt emulsion (oil) is placed over the entire road surface. This final surface will contain coarse areas and may have minor depressions that still hold some water. This work requires full road closure during the duration of the work.

Rut Fill

Roads that develop longitudinal ruts can lead to hydroplaning and loss of control during lane changes. In these instances, the City will conduct rut fill maintenance which consists of applying a very stable asphalt and fine aggregate mixture in the ruts located in the wheel path on high volume roads. Rut filled streets are usually treated with micro-surfacing within two years of the first treatment.

Micro-Surfacing

When roads are still structurally sound but show some surface deterioration which can lead to potholes, the City will conduct micro-surfacing. This preservation treatment consists of a premixed "slurry" of emulsified asphalt, fine graded aggregate and mineral filler placed 8mm to 15mm thick. Roads that contain major depressions and defects such as large cracks, potholes and erosion in the street gutter will receive a preparation treatment prior to micro-surfacing. A full road closure is required during the duration of the work, and usually remains in effect until the following morning.

Thin Overlay

This process is a surface treatment similar to microsurfacing and resurfacing, and is generally used on higher volume roadways that show some surface deterioration, but are still sound. The process involves tacking the road surface with oil and then paving with a hot mix asphalt (HMA) overlay, generally to a thickness of 38mm (1.5 inches) or less. A full road closure is required for the duration of the work, and usually remains in effect until the following morning.

Resurfacing

For roads with surface deterioration, a poor profile and moderate cracking, resurfacing work is performed. This is a major treatment which includes: survey, design, re-profiling to improve drainage and repair of failed areas. The final stage of construction involves overlaying the entire road with a new asphalt surface. A full road closure is required.

Reconstruction

Overall structural failure is indicated when city streets show extensive cracking and deformation. Work consists of completely pulverizing the failed asphalt surface, removal of failed material, reclamation of granular material, re-compaction of the road structure and complete resurfacing. Some locations may have a stabilizer added to the base material to increase its strength. A full road closure will be required for several days.