Surfaced roads add another 340.6 km of road to the Clearwater County road inventory, resulting in a total of 2240 km. Our current surfaced road inventory is made up of 9.8 km of chip seal, 319.13 km of asphalt surface.
Asphalt Overlay Program: Asphalt overlaying is the process of paving an additional layer of asphalt over existing asphalt. Asphalt roads have a typical life cycle of approximately 15 years, and with 341 kilometres of asphalt surfaced roadways, the County has a 15 year maintenance strategy that requires an average of 22 kilometres of overlay each year in order to meet the road maintenance strategy.
Asphalt Repairs and Crack seal: Clearwater County employs five summer students to help complete our crack sealing program starting the end of April to mid-May and finishing up mid-July. The purpose of this project is to seal the cracks on the surfaced roads to prevent moisture from entering into the base causing deterioration of the granular and clay base which in turn will prevent a pot hole from starting to form. The method we use is quite simple but very effective. We simply have cold pour oil in a tank and pump it through a controlled spray wand filling the crack. Then a person uses a squeegee to smooth and push it into the crack. The oil we use air dries in about fifteen minutes or less. Clearwater County has just over three hundred kilometers of crack sealing to do each year.
Oras Coulee Frost Heave: One of the ways Clearwater County has repaired frost heave areas is by using fabric, drain rock and insulation. This method has been very successful in the past. We first excavate and locate the spring, drain it out through the shoulder of the road and then apply a layer of filter fabric to the excavated area. On top of the fabric we apply a layer of washed rock to allow the spring water to flow through and out the shoulder. Then we install a layer of Frost Heave Solutions material, which is an insulated material that stops frost from penetrating the area and freezing up in the spring. Finally we back fill and compact it back up to the driving surface.
Snow removal: Clearwater County has five plow trucks and annually hires one contract truck. Each truck has a designated beat that averages approximately 60 km. Sand and salt is pre-stacked in strategic locations and applied on a "as need" basis. Click here to see the County's Surfaced Roads Winter Maintenance Operations Plan. During the summer months the County plow trucks are down rigged and utilized on other County programs.
Clearwater County has an on call system that consists of thirteen employees. Each truck alternates two drivers. Each employee is on call twenty four hours a day and seven days a week. After his on call week is completed, he then becomes the secondary driver in case of a twenty four hour snow storm. Two employees are responsible for weather watch on a weekly basis.
Mailboxes: Clearwater County is not responsible for the clearing of private or communal mailboxes. This responsibility lies with individual property owners and Canada Post respectively. However, Clearwater County recommends the following mailbox dimensions for private mailboxes adjacent to public roads, in order for graders to better clear near the mailbox area when plowing public roads.