Council Minutes - Town of Cambridge

COUNCIL MINUTES
TUESDAY 20 DECEMBER 2011
CR11.153 FIVE YEAR PROGRAM (2012/13 TO 2016/17) - FOOTPATHS
PURPOSE OF REPORT:
To review a Draft Five Year Program for footpaths as a prerequisite to preparing the Draft
2012/13 Budget.
BACKGROUND:
Council last reviewed the “Five Year Program for Footpaths” in November 2010 (Item
CR10.25). The first year of that program was then considered for funding in the Draft 2011/12
Budget.
This program considers the upgrading of slab footpaths and construction of new footpaths. To
avoid confusion with the Town of Cambridge Bicycle Plan 2009, the construction of shared
paths and bicycle minor works are reported separately as a Five Year Program for Shared
Paths. Council last reviewed that program in September 2010, Item CR10.3.
When the footpath projects that are funded in the 20011/12 Budget are complete, the state of
construction of footpaths will be:-
Length of slab footpaths: 22.8 km (17% of total);
Length of brick paved footpaths (in commercial areas): 3.8 km (3% of total);
Length of concrete footpaths 110.6 km (80% of total); and
Total length of all footpaths: 137.2 km.
The location of the remaining slab footpaths are shown graphically on the map provided in the
attachment to this report.
All slab and concrete paths are inspected annually to assess condition, identify tripping hazards
and control risk. The inspection for 2011 is in progress and tripping hazards will be
progressively removed by relaying the defective slabs and grinding the displacement in
concrete paths. The condition assessment is one of the factors used to develop a priority order
for upgrading slab paths to concrete. The condition is visually assessed by the proportion of
cracked slabs, unevenness of surface and gaps between the slabs, and they are ranked as
either 1, 2, 3 or 4. Their replacement is prioritised as follows:-
Paths ranked as 1 and 2 only require maintenance.
Paths ranked as 3 should be replaced in years 3, 4 or 5 of the program.
Paths ranked as 4 should be replaced in year 1 and 2 of the program.
DETAILS:
Objective
The objective of the footpath upgrading program is to provide a safe network of paths for
people to travel by walking, running, riding bicycles or wheelchairs. The existing slab paths are
now relatively expensive to maintain in a good condition and the best long term option is to
upgrade them to an insitu poured concrete footpath. These are expected to last at least 40
years with minimal maintenance.
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