New Bylaw to Enhance City Roadway Restoration and Maintenance
May 20, 2005
City Council approved the new Roadway Restoration Regulation Bylaw No.7869 to ensure that any persons wishing to make road cuts on collector, arterial or bus routes meet new minimum standards to enhance our roadways.
The City’s roads serve two primary purposes, the obvious of which is for the efficient movement of vehicle traffic. Utilities are also contained within the roadways, which typically include water lines, storm sewers, gas, hydro, telephone and cable mainlines, and to a more limited extent may contain city sanitary sewers, GVRD trunk mains and Trans Mountain pipeline transmission facilities.
Access to existing underground utilities resulting in disruption to the asphalt surface is required for numerous reasons, such as services to newly created developments and subdivisions, installation of new capital works utilities, operation’s maintenance projects and service request responses, and for Hydro, Gas, Electric and Cable operational needs and capital projects.
Previously, the City repaired the disrupted asphalt surface that was directly impacted by the work, as opposed to repaving the surrounding perimeters of the disturbed area. This approach has several negative consequences, such as reduced pavement life expectancy, increased repairs costs and vibration complaints from the public.
The Roadway Restoration Regulation Bylaw No.7869, which takes effect on June 1, 2005, is designed to eliminate or at least mitigate the effects, the costs and other negative implications associated with past road cut practices. Creating this bylaw means that a greater stretch of roadway surrounding the area affected by construction will be repaved. This includes full lane width restoration in the case of roadway cuts, and the requirement to meet a minimum width of 8-meter restoration for cross cuts, in addition to standards outlined in the Master Municipal Construction Document (MMCD). The benefits of enhancing road restoration in Richmond will be realized by the use of a consistent approach to road restoration best practices, co-ordination of road cuts with the City’s annual paving program and subsequent cost-savings to restore and maintain our roadways.
To review this bylaw in its entirety, please refer to the Bylaws section of this website or contact Wasim Memon, Supervisor of Inspections, at 604-276-4189.
