Title
PRESENTATION CONCERNING WALKWAY WINTER MAINTENANCE
Craig Morton, Senior Manager of Operations, Roads, Stormwater and Fleet provided a presentation concerning walkway winter maintenance in the City.
Mr. Morton discussed slides concerning the following topics:
• An overview of winter maintenance and active transportation;
• Assessing and prioritizing walkways to meet the needs of the community;
• A summary of the current concerns and options to improve pedestrian access to schools;
• Examples of street to school walkways and options to consider;
• A summary and examples of park pathways to schools;
• An overview of the street to street walkways near schools;
• Examples of park pathways and street to street walkways near schools;
• An overview of the snow clearing challenges of walkways;
• The spring cleanup and summer maintenance of walkways;
• A chart entitled “Improving School Pedestrian Access - Benefitting Schools and Wards”;
• The potential costs related to improving school pedestrian access; and
• An overview of a potential pilot program, options and costs related to walkway winter maintenance.
Members of Committee asked a number of questions of Mr. Morton and received responses.
The Committee suggested surveying schools to determine the numbers of bused students versus walking students, researching complaints received for walkway locations, and looking for options for carbon-free equipment and the threshold of new equipment required. They discussed ranking these items as they relate to street to street, street to school walkways and park connected walkways around schools.
The Committee further suggested having a discussion with the school boards concerning walkway winter maintenance.
Brett Gratrix, Senior Project Manager of Transportation Planning, and Craig Morton advised that they report back at a future Committee meeting with a follow-up concerning the walkway winter maintenance.