Road Maintenance

Cracksealing is one form of preventative pavement maintenance that ensures the consistent operation of the Town’s roadways.  Pavement cracks develop due to expansion and contraction caused by temperature fluctuation. These cracks allow water to penetrate the pavement base and sub-base materials, causing pavement elements to lose structural integrity. If not repaired or prevented, this cracking effect will grow, leading to deformation of the pavement, pot holes, and ultimately the degradation of asphalt and concrete surfaces. 

Cracksealing activities have begun.  Prior to our cold pour tar compound being applied to any roads, signs are installed advising motorists of wet tar on the roadway.  Motorists are strongly encouraged to drive slowly along these routes to avoid getting tar on their vehicles.  Property owners may wish to initially avoid driving onto their driveways in areas where tar has been applied to avoid tracking.  The cold pour tar takes approximately 30 minutes to harden once it has been applied to the road surface.    

Road (Line) painting occurs on a regular and ongoing basis on our transportation networks.  Major road painting applications are typically scheduled throughout the summer months. 

We ask motorists to obey all signage installed around road painting areas and to drive slowly around our workers when they are engaged in road painting activities.  Please stay back from line painting operations and avoid driving over fresh looking paint.

What if I drive over the paint and it gets on my car?

Although the Town places signs indicating fresh paint on a roadway, sometimes a driver may accidently drive through it getting paint on their car. If this happens, as soon as possible after getting paint from road stripes on vehicle wash the vehicle at a pressure car wash. This will loosen and remove most of the paint unless it has dried for more than a day.

If the car wash does not remove the paint, allow the water to dry off the vehicle. Spray the paint residue with WF-40 and allow the WD-40 to stay on the area for 1-2 hours and rewash the vehicle. The WD-40 will soften the traffic paint without hurting the vehicle finish. If there is a heavy concentration, repeat the procedure.

For heavy accumulations or paint that has dried for several days, apply a liberal coating of Vaseline, petroleum jelly to the dried traffic paint and allow to stay on overnight. Take vehicle to a pressure car wash and wash. This should remove most of the traffic paint. If not repeat the procedure.

Do not scrub the finish with a solvent or scouring cleanser. This will damage the finish.  

After cleaning the paint away apply a good wax to the vehicle’s finish.  Wax should remove any lasting signs of the traffic paint.

Wheel wells are very difficult to remove the paint from since they are normally a flat finish.  Apply a liberal coating of Vaseline to the area and leave for several days and then pressure wash.  Applying an alcohol such as Solox or Rubbing Alcohol to the area in the wheel well will help to soften any residue left after the Vaseline. Again, do not scrub. Just apply with a very wetted rag or sponge.

The Town of Okotoks maintains gravel and paved back lanes. Road crews check the network throughout the summer and schedule repairs in priority order as needed. Maintenance starts once crews have finished spring clean-up, and continues throughout the summer.

If you have a gravel lane flagged for repair, a sign may be posted to indicate that the Town crews will be working in the area.   

You can help us get the job done quickly and cost-effectively by removing any obstacles for the duration of the repair, such as:

• Cars, motor homes, trailers
• Construction bins, stored material
• Debris, excavated dirt piles
• Low-hanging tree branches
• Black, blue, green carts

Town crews schedule work around waste collection days where possible, but in the event if repair work must fall on a regular waste pick-up day, please put your carts out as you normally would. The repair crew will move them aside while they work on your section of lane, and put them back before moving on. The following are signs that a back lane is due for repair:

• Poor drainage
• Severe potholes, ruts, washboards
• Emerging/worsening sink holes
• Too much/too little gravel
• Low/high manhole covers​​

If you notice any of these issues, you can contact Transportation at the number below.  

Based on available annual budgets, the Transportation team assesses our concrete (sidewalk and curb and gutter) infrastructure and prioritizes our concrete replacement programs based on needs and assessments.  Hazardous concrete is marked for replacement first as well as concrete in need of replacement due to earlier utility work in a particular location.  Sidewalk and curb repairs typically occur during the summer and fall months.  Pedestrians should use caution when traversing by areas where sidewalks have been removed and replaced.  Any immediately affected businesses or residents will be notified prior to concrete repair work proceeding. 

If you notice any significant sidewalk, curb or trip edge issues, please contact Transportation at the number below.  

Pothole repair work is also currently underway. Some of this work is required to be completed during night-shifts when traffic volumes are very low. Watch for signage and workers and use extra caution when passing through these areas. Thank you for your cooperation.

With our large and continuously growing road network combined with our harsh Alberta climate, pot holes are inevitable. While our Transportation team endeavours to monitor all our road networks and patch any pot holes when we are aware of them, we can’t catch them all.

If you notice any pothole issues, please contact Transportation at the number below.

The Town of Okotoks currently has 22 sets of traffic signals installed throughout our growing community.  Our signals are monitored to ensure they run as efficiently as possible to allow for safe access for all our motorists and pedestrians alike.  Occasionally, our signals malfunction and require repair. 

Some repairs may include but are not limited to:

• replacing a burnt out light,
• signals appear “stuck” in a cycle resulting in extended green or red lights,
• power surges leading to all way flash cycles or full power outages.

Crews will be dispatched to repair the issue as soon as they are available and depending on the urgency of the repair.  Motorists are reminded to use caution when passing through a deficient signal – a flashing signal for example is still functioning and motorists need to obey the rules of the road that apply depending on the flashing condition - ie., proceed with caution on flashing yellow and stop on flashing red.    

If you notice any of these issues please contact Transportation at the number below during normal business hours, or after hours please call 403-938-4372. 

There are 2,941 streetlights within the Town of Okotoks.  With the exception of the decorative lights in the downtown district, all streetlights within the Town of Okotoks are maintained by Fortis Alberta.  From time to time, our streetlights can malfunction. The most common malfunction we see are:

• lights staying on continuously
• lights flicker on and off
• lights do not work at all

If you spot a street light malfunction in contact Fortis Alberta at 310-WIRE (9473).