Summer and Winter Road Maintenance

Summer maintenance generally occurs between May 15 and October 31. There are a number of scheduled routine maintenance items that the Operations Department completes during the summer season. Some of these summer operations include:

• Roadside maintenance (mowing, ditching, shouldering)
• Street sweeping
• Resurfacing (surface treatment, asphalt paving, slurry seal)
• Gravelling
• Dust control
• Culvert replacement
• Re-grading
• Miscellaneous road repairs

Road system and work are set out on a biweekly basis for ongoing maintenance.

Summer Dust Control

Gravel roads can create a great deal of of dust during the summer months. Calcium chloride is used to reduce dust levels caused by the movement of traffic on dry roads. Dust control is costly and has a slight environmental impact on the surrounding area. For this reason, dust control is applied once per year in late June. We rely on the wet spring conditions to provide a natural dust control for as long as possible. In the drier, hotter months the applied dust control will provide more effective treatment. As funds allow, gravel roads throughout the Municipality are being hard surfaced to eliminate this need for dust control measures.

Winter Road Maintenance

In the winter, our staff is busy plowing, sanding and salting the Municipal roads. During snow storms and bad weather, high priority roads (such as bus routes) are plowed and sanded first and often. We are legally obligated to maintain these priority roadways. We ask residents on a secondary roadways to please be patient.

Level of Service for Winter Road Maintenance Policy 

How You Can Help us Provide the Best Winter Road Maintenance

Protect Your Mailbox

Mailboxes not used during the winter, should be removed (that includes the post). Most often when mailboxes are damaged, it is because the plowed snow accumulates causing increasing weight and pressure against these boxes over the course of the winter. It is each resident’s responsibility to keep the area around their mailbox clear of snow. We suggest summer residents have a temporary installation for their mailbox. Mailboxes damaged by snow load from plow equipment will not be replaced by the Municipality. The Municipality will replace a damaged mailbox if the damage is deemed to result from a direct hit by plow equipment. Should your mailbox be damaged, please contact the Municipal office. An inspection and assessment will be made by the Working Foreman and reported to the Manager of Operations.

Mailbox Policy (Bylaw 2-2005)

Winter Parking

Pursuant to Bylaw 2020-009 ‘No person shall park a motor vehicle on any of the streets or highways or nearby boulevards in a manner that interferes with the clearing of snow from a highway between the hours of 12:00 midnight and 7:00 a.m. Eastern Standard time from the fifteenth (15th) day of October in any given year to the fifteenth (15th) day of April inclusive, in the following year.’

Snow on Roadways

Under the Highway Traffic Act, it is illegal to shovel, blow or plow snow onto a roadway. This action is also very dangerous and can cause oncoming vehicles to lose control. Please use caution when clearing your driveway and always be aware of the traffic around you. 

As part of Ontario Regulation 366/18, we will declare a weather event on Social Media and on our website. 

Minimum Maintenance Standards

The Municipality of Hastings Highlands level of service complies with Minimum Maintenance Standards as defined in O. Reg. 366/18 under the Municipal Act, 2001.These standards provide the regulatory requirements for maintenance activities for summer and winter standards.  

Minimum maintenance standards are set by municipalities according to the Municipal Act, 2001. They describe the minimum standards municipalities must meet for road, bridge, and sidewalk maintenance. Speed limits and traffic counts determine each municipal road's classification. Minimum maintenance standards vary depending on the road's classification.