-
PURPOSE
The Technical Support division IMS office has developed a sidewalk inspection program designed to identify potential safety hazards and deficiencies and to assign condition ratings to city-owned sidewalks. This is a proactive approach to sidewalk maintenance and repair. The goal is to locate and identify for repair urgent and high severity sidewalk deficiencies before they result in injury or damage. In addition, assigning accurate condition ratings allow for better short and long term rehabilitation and budget planning.
It should be noted that this Guide is an internal training document for staff conducting the sidewalk inspections. It does not dictate what repairs are undertaken but rather provides some explanatory information about possible repair considerations for information purposes and minor repair categorization purposes only. The type of repairs undertaken and scheduling is determined by Maintenance Division management staff and is subject to site-specific conditions, funding, and resource constraints.
-
GENERAL
-
2.1 Background
An initial sweep of the City’s sidewalks was performed over a three-year span starting in 2005 and ending in 2007. Every sidewalk was inspected during this time frame and recorded in the sidewalk inventory of Hansen. At that point a criteria based inspection cycle was developed and implemented to establish an annual sidewalk inspection program. - 2.2 Inspection Cycle
IMS staff with the help of temporary staff (Engineering students) perform all sidewalk inspections. The inspections are based on a frequency that reflects the last recorded condition of the sidewalk and the level of pedestrian traffic. Pedestrian traffic is determined by the sidewalk’s proximity to such things as schools, nursing homes and BIA’s (Business Improvement Association areas), as well as the road classification. The following table describes the inspection cycle:
-