Road Repairs and Maintenance

Gravel roads are graded during the spring, summer, and fall months to eliminate potholes, washboarding, and other surface deficiencies.

Maintenance gravel is added to road surfaces throughout the year where necessary to improve and maintain the integrity of the roads. Gravel placement is determined through road monitoring. Residents are asked to exercise caution when driving on roads that have recently received gravel maintenance.

A calcium chloride dust suppressant is also applied to gravel road surfaces after spring grading to minimize dust and maintain the graded shape of the road throughout the summer months.

As part of our gravel road maintenance program, Georgian Bluffs has introduced a gravel reclaiming process to help preserve the quality of rural roads and improve long-term performance.

Over time, winter snowplowing and everyday vehicle traffic shift gravel from the centre of the road toward the ditch, creating berms along the shoulders. These berms can trap water on the road surface, especially after rain or spring melt. When water can’t drain off the road surface properly, it weakens the road base and leads to problems like potholes and rutting.

To fix this, our operations crews now perform gravel reclaiming in spring. This involves removing the berm along the road edge and recovering the material that was pushed away over time. Since the berm is mostly made of road gravel, this process allows us to reuse it during grading instead of losing valuable material to the ditch.

Here’s how it works:

1. Berm Removal – Crews use equipment to cut into the berm at the road edge and pull the material back onto the road surface.
2. Organic Material – Small amounts of vegetation or grass that grows on the berms may be processed with the reclaimed gravel. The reclaimed material is left to dry on the road shoulder for a few days to ensure the organic material has an opportunity to die off.
3. Grading and Reshaping – The reclaimed gravel is mixed into the road surface, and the road is reshaped to ensure proper drainage from the crown (centerline) to the ditch.

This process helps maintain road shape, prevents premature deterioration, regains useable road width and reduces the cost of importing new gravel every year. Residents may notice the temporary presence of small grass clumps mixed with gravel along the shoulder of some gravel roads this spring. This is a normal part of the reclaiming process, and the road will be regraded the following week. 

By reclaiming and reusing materials, we’re supporting smarter, more sustainable road maintenance in Georgian Bluffs.

Temperature fluctuation during winter weather creates the perfect conditions for potholes in the spring.

The Operations Department regularly patrols the roads for potholes, and will spot repair them when necessary.

To report a pothole, please submit request through Contact GB.

Street sweeping takes place each spring to clear sand and debris left behind from the winter. Please avoid parking on Town roads when sweepers are working in the area.

Roadside ditches are essential for draining water from rain and snow away from the road base, and directing it to appropriate outlets. Culverts are installed under roadways to carry out water.

Over time, debris can gather in roadside ditches and culverts, and needs to be removed to ensure drainage continues to function. This helps to prevent flooding and erosion of roadways. Areas that need attention may show damage with potholes, cracking, or rutting, unstable soil in the ditch, or high levels of standing water indicating an obstruction.

Operations staff will conduct ditch maintenance on an as-needed basis between April and October of each year.