Toronto maintains roads and sidewalks to help keep them safe, accessible and in good repair. Regular inspections, preventive maintenance, and rehabilitation help extend the life of City infrastructure, improve safety, and reduce the need for more extensive repairs.
Learn how the City maintains roads and sidewalks, when repairs and replacement are carried out, and how to report maintenance concerns.
Contact 311 to report or request:
Contact 311 to report or request:
Contact 311 to report or request:
Contact 311 to report or request:
The City maintains roads, sidewalks, bridges and expressways using a lifecycle approach known as the State of Good Repair Program. Regular inspections, preventative maintenance and timely rehabilitation help keep infrastructure safe, extend its service life and reduce the need for more extensive repairs or reconstruction.
Roads and sidewalks are inspected regularly to assess their condition and determine the most appropriate maintenance or rehabilitation work. Engineering assessments help identify the right treatment at the right time, allowing the City to make repairs before more significant deterioration occurs.
Prioritizing preventative maintenance helps improve safety and extend the life of infrastructure at a minimal cost.
Most City roads are built with an asphalt surface over a concrete base.
Over time, weather, traffic and everyday wear cause the asphalt surface to crack and deteriorate. Water entering these cracks can damage the pavement further, resulting in potholes and other surface defects. Throughout a road's life, the City carries out routine maintenance, including repairing cracks and potholes, to help slow this deterioration.
The asphalt surface of a road typically lasts 18 to 25 years, depending on traffic volumes, weather and pavement conditions. Around this time, inspectors assess the road and perform engineering tests to determine whether resurfacing is needed. If the road remains in good condition, no work is carried out and it will be inspected again at a later date.
Road Resurfacing
When the asphalt surface has deteriorated but the concrete base remains in good condition, the City resurfaces the road by replacing the asphalt surface.
Road resurfacing is a preventative maintenance measure that:
With regular preventative maintenance, including resurfacing, the concrete base of a road can last about 50 years.
When inspections show that both the asphalt surface and the concrete base have deteriorated, the City carries out a full road reconstruction.
Road reconstruction rebuilds the road from the foundation up and may include replacing curbs, sidewalks and underground infrastructure.
Without preventative maintenance, a road's concrete base may last only 25 to 30 years, increasing the need for earlier reconstruction.
Sidewalks are inspected regularly as part of the City's road inspection program.
Inspectors assess the condition of individual sidewalk bays and identify sections requiring repair or replacement. Rather than replacing an entire sidewalk, the City replaces only the sidewalk bays that are in the greatest need of repair.
Sidewalk replacement is often coordinated with planned road work but may also be completed independently, as needed.
This targeted approach improves pedestrian safety while making efficient use of City resources.
A utility cut is an excavation made in a road or sidewalk to install, repair, replace or remove underground infrastructure, such as watermains, gas lines, hydro or telecommunications services.
When utility companies perform this work, they are responsible for restoring the affected road, sidewalk, curb or boulevard to City standards.
Utility cuts are typically completed in two stages:
After the underground work is completed, the excavation is temporarily restored with asphalt to provide a safe, level surface until permanent repairs can be completed.
The utility company arranges for the permanent restoration of the affected road, curb, sidewalk and boulevard in accordance with City requirements.
Learn more about Utility Cuts & Utility Cut Permits.