Roads

The Roads Department is responsible for the construction, maintenance and management of all roadways under the jurisdiction of the Township of Wainfleet. Township roads are classed and maintained in accordance with Ontario Regulation 239/02 made under the Municipal Act, 2001, as Classes 4, 5, and 6 roads.

The Township maintains approximately:

260 centre line kilometres of roadway (37% loose-topped or gravel)
400 kilometers of roadside drainage ditches
220 streetlights

Ditches

A roadside ditch runs alongside a road, and is built to drain the road bed and the water draining off the road surface. A properly functioning roadside ditch protects the integrity of the road. Roadside drainage ditches are different from Municipal Drains. Ditch cleaning or alterations to ditches with water flowing or discharges into water courses require a permit from the Conservation Authority. Requests for roadside ditching improvements are managed by the Township's Operations Department.

Helpful reminders:

Please do not rake leaves into or otherwise infill any roadside ditches (refer to our Fouling of Roads By-law)
Keep catch basins clear

Report an Issue

You can report an issue with a Township Road, ditch or streetlight.

Traffic concerns are handled by the Niagara Regional Police Service. You can submit a traffic complaint through their website.

Road Permits

We require that you obtain a permit before you undertake certain activities on our roads.

Visit our Road Permits page for more information or to apply.

Additional Information

Other Roads

Winter Control

The Township of Wainfleet is committed to ensuring safe passage for residents, visitors and businesses and ensuring roadways are passable for emergency response vehicles.

Please monitor local weather forecasts and remove all vehicles from Township roads in order to allow for proper snow clearing and removal operations during storm events. Both the Ontario Highway Traffic Act and the Wainfleet Parking By-law include provisions prohibiting vehicles from interfering with snow clearing and removal operations.

When clearing your driveway, please refrain from depositing snow and other debris on any roads, road allowances or in ditches. This will help keep the view of intersections clear and prevent drifting, damage to small vehicles and blockages that may later cause flooding.

We appreciate your cooperation in keeping our roads safe.

Studies and Reports

Parking

Potholes

Potholes are a perpetual challenge for municipalities across the country. The Township identifies potholes through regular patrols of all of its roads as well as reports made by the public. On asphalt roads, most potholes are caused by water which seeps into existing small cracks in the surface of the road caused by the wear and tear of traffic and deterioration over time. Cold weather then causes this water to freeze (and expand) and when this water melts and evaporates in the warmer weather, it creates gaps which then get broken down by the motor vehicle traffic. Potholes are fixed temporarily using a cold patch mix of asphalt - until a more permanent fix can be completed after the winter road maintenance season is concluded and the frost has left the ground.

As a rural municipality, however, 97 kilometers of our roadways are gravel. Unpaved road surfaces are more susceptible to developing potholes and water is the biggest contributor to the deterioration of these roads. Whether it seeps in from above or below, water simply destroys roads. In addition to rutting and eroding away an unsealed road surfaces, water causes the development of potholes. During the freeze-thaw cycle, water that has infiltrated into the road material will freeze and expand during sub-freezing temperatures. When temperatures warm back up, the frozen material will thaw and contract. This will leave voids in the road material that will collect more water and experience more sub-surface deterioration following additional freeze-thaw cycles. It is these voids in the road material that can be broken through and further damaged by traffic, causing potholes to form. We use a grader to repair these surfaces but continuous wet conditions, combined with freeze-thaw cycles, exacerbate the problem.

Drainage