Spring and Summer Maintenance | City of Kawartha Lakes

After the spring thaw, our Public Works department changes gears for spring and starts working to keep our roads in shape for the next season. Below is a description of the types of services you will see in the warmer months to come:

Pothole Repair

Pothole repair is performed year round to meet provincial standards. Potholes are repaired on a priority basis, depending on the type of road, volume of traffic and the size of the pothole. Although we have patrol staff that inspect the condition of all roads on a rotating basis, letting us know about a pothole can help speed up the process. Report pothole concerns online by using our Report It Tool.

Street Sweeping

As part of the annual road maintenance needs, the City of Kawartha Lakes provides street sweeping services. Sweeping services are completed to provide a safe environment for pedestrian and vehicular traffic. Sweeping also helps prevent materials placed during winter maintenance activity from entering the City’s storm infrastructure which can cause blockages and restrict flow.

Staff plan sweeping activity based on forecasted weather, resource availability and planned workload. Generally Staff coordinate sweeping within community central business districts first. Council has adopted a policy CP2019-001 on street sweeping. The policy outlines equipment, resources and includes a list of roads that receive sweeping services.

Ditching and Catch Basin (Culvert) Clearing

Often in the spring, ditches and culverts need to be cleared of leaves and other materials that may have piled up over the winter months. Residents can help by not raking leaves into ditches. Culverts allow the passing of water over roads to help keep potholes and cracks from forming.

Grading

Each year, the municipality maintains its gravel roads by grading them as required in order to extend the life of the road. Grading a road smooths out the surface and helps pack the base down further to keep the proper shape, height and angles of the road.

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Line Painting

To maintain the safety and integrity of our roads, crews will reapply line paint for maximum visibility.

Dust Control

Calcium Chloride is applied to gravel roads during May and June.

Sidewalks

Sidewalks are repaired as needed until reconstruction takes place.

Parking Lots

Municipal parking lots are kept swept and are painted in May and June.

Roadside Mowing

Roadside grass is cut back 6 feet from the shoulder in June.

Weed control

Noxious Weed Program

Our Public Works – Roads Department manages a program to control Noxious and Invasive Weeds as required under the Weed Act on City owned properties. Plants identified as a noxious weed generally have negative impacts to agriculture or livestock, and in some cases can cause significant harm to humans.

The City also applies herbicide with strict adherence to the Pesticides Act to protect certain pieces of infrastructure from the damaging effects certain plant growth can cause and to generally extend the lifecycle replacement cost of those City Assets. This herbicide application is more cost effective than manual vegetation removal that would otherwise occur several times a year.

The application of herbicide is carried out by an experienced operator licenced by the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks under the Pesticides Act. The Herbicides used by the operator are licenced for use by the Environment and Climate Change Canada branch of the Federal Government under the Pest Control Products Act.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs maintains a list of Noxious Weeds for the Province of Ontario. The following is a list of the currently designated Noxious Weeds in Ontario effective January 1, 2015:


List of Noxious Weeds In Ontario
Black Dog-Strangling Vine	Bull Thistle	Canada Thistle
Coltsfoot	Common Barberry	Common Crupina
Cypress Spurge	Dodder	Dog-Strangling Vine
European Buckthorn	Giant Hogweed	Jointed Goatgrass
Knapweed	Kudzu	Leafy Spurge
Poison Hemlock	Poison Ivy	Ragweed
Serrated Tussock	Smooth Bedstraw	Sow Thistle
Tansy Ragwort	Wild Chervil	Wild Parsnip
Woolly Cupgrass

Herbicide applications generally occur from Victoria Day to the end of September. The main herbicide currently being used to control noxious weeds is ClearView Herbicide by Dow AgroSciences (registration number 29752 under Pest Control Products Act). ClearView Herbicide is a selective herbicide for post-emergent control of annual and perennial broadleaf weeds, invasive plants and shrubs with good tolerance of cool and warm season grasses. The active ingredient in this herbicide is Aminopyralid (present as potassium salt) and Metsulfuron – Methyl.

Issues related to weed concerns are sent to the Public Works Weed Control group. An inspector from the group will inspect the area and determine if a Noxious Weed as designated by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs is present. The inspector will ensure the destruction of such weeds as required by the Weed Control Act. The inspector will decide what the best practice is to destroy the weeds depending on the biological nature of the plant.

The City of Kawartha Lakes also conducts the spraying of undesirable vegetation on roadside Guide Rail throughout the spring and summer months. This spraying is done to reduce the growth on vegetation that can pose a threat to the health of the asset. Under the Pesticides Act of Ontario [1] R.S.O. 1990, c. P.11, the justification of the use of these herbicides is:

To prevent damage to the structural integrity of a public work, if the potential damage caused to the public work by the plant, would place the health or safety of a person at risk.
To facilitate essential maintenance of a public work, if the plant would interfere with or prevent the maintenance.
To ensure the security of a public work, if the plant would place the security at risk.

A Map of Noxious Weed Spray Areas in the City of Kawartha Lakes

Approved Alternative Notification for Pesticide Use from MECP for 2020

Up-to-date information about using pesticides in Ontario

Pictures, descriptions and more information on over 170 weeds

Want to report a noxious weed issue within the City’s Right of Way? Report it online or by contacting customer service at 705-324-9411.

Learn More

Learn more about our seasonal operations by visiting our Winter Operations page.

Want to let us know about an issue or concern? Our Report It tool online sends requests for service directly to the crews in your area. Complete our online form and keep your tracking number in case you wish to call in and follow up.

Submit a Road Request