Minimum Maintenance Standards Thinking Bigger MEA Workshop and Annual General Meeting Friday, November 24, 2017

The material presented highlights some of the high-level discussions surrounding possible new additions/subtractions/revisions to the current version of the MMS and do not reflect the final recommendations of the MMS Review Task Force.

Presentation Overview MMS Timeline Regulation and Precedent Setting Cases MMS 2nd 5-Year Review Committee By the Numbers Additions/Subtractions/Revisions Next Steps Communication

MMS Timeline Regulation Precedent Setting Cases 2002 MMS comes into Force 2007-2010 1st 5-year Update 2012-2013 MMS Update Precedent Setting Cases

MMS 2nd 5-Year Review Committee Makeup Organizations: Legal Council:

MMS 2nd 5-Year Review Municipalities:

MMS 2nd 5-Year Review Insurance Providers:

MMS 2nd 5-Year Review x13 828+ hours x12 By the numbers 13 meetings (last meeting November 7, 2017) 828+ hours 12 revisions to draft document 828+ hours x12

MMS 2nd 5-Year Review x34 By the numbers 34 municipalities provided comments (3 main areas – weather emergency, bicycle lanes, and snow/icy sidewalks) Comments from municipalities being addressed Revised regulation to be circulated to Legislative Review Counsel for comment

Renaming Ontario Regulation 239/02 Proposal Minimum Maintenance Standards Voluntary participation reiterated and reinforced “Minimum” is, misleading and possibly undermining Other defences under s.44(3)(a) and (b) still apply ‘Minimum’ implies guilt if you do not comply/meet the word ‘Minimum’ is being removed from 80% of the document Two places ‘Minimum’ will remain – Title and Section 2

Classification of Highways Table Existing Classification table has been adjusted to include more categories above 15,000 for large volumes AADT vs. Average Daily Traffic Flexibility for municipalities with wide variations in traffic volumes between seasons More accurate estimation of level of service

Weather Monitoring Consideration Declaration of a ‘weather emergency’ ‘significant weather event’ Municipalities need set criteria for when to declare these events Legislative Review Counsel needs to resolve if the Minister of Transportation has the authority to grant municipalities the ability to declare a ‘significant weather event’ OGRA is planning on providing some assistance to municipalities with declaration criteria, notification policies and weather monitoring suggestions

Potholes Measurement/Calculation of pothole surface area Actual measurement or visual estimate Hole vs. depressed/sunken area Important clarification for a common deficiency Attempt to clear up grey area around what is a pothole

Sidewalk Surface Discontinuities Expand sidewalk inspection to cover a portion of the area adjacent to the sidewalk Identify: holes/depressions/trip hazards/encroachments ‘Highly unusual’ nature with 28 days to address Distance of either 45 cm OR back of curb OR edge or ROW

Snow and Ice Accumulation Sidewalks Requirement to address snow within 48 hour window after end of accumulation or notice of snow/ice Includes plowing, sanding, salting or combination To a depth of less than 8 cm for snow Application of sand/salt/chemicals for ice

Bicycle Lanes Conventional vs Separated lanes Attempt to identify additional winter maintenance challenges on separated facilities Maintenance levels scale with adjacent road classification Conventional assumed easier to address with on road equipment Special equipment/sidewalk plows needed for separated lanes

Sidewalks and Bicycle Lanes Why the focus on this infrastructure? Previous standard was mostly silent More claims occurring due to more use and expansion of these infrastructure networks

MMS 2nd 5-Year Review Next Steps Legislative Review Counsel need to finalize work, review by MMS task force with recommendation to OGRA board for approval and submission Anticipated date the Regulation will come into Force – July 1, 2018

MMS 2nd 5-Year Review Communicating the Message Heads Up Alert and Fact Sheet to be developed explaining revisions Session at 2018 OGRA Conference ½ day seminar/workshop x3 (East, Central (GTA), Southwest) and webinar series to review the revisions with municipal staff

Thank you James Smith, PhD Manager, Member/Technical Services Ontario Good Roads Association (416) 662-1308 james@ogra.org