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

2. 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.

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

4. MMS Timeline Regulation Precedent Setting Cases
2002 MMS comes into Force
st 5-year Update
MMS Update
Precedent Setting Cases

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

6. MMS 2nd 5-Year Review
Municipalities:

7. MMS 2nd 5-Year Review
Insurance Providers:

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. Thank you James Smith, PhD Manager, Member/Technical Services
Ontario Good Roads Association
(416)