Abstract Manager

Traditional funding strategies tend to better support the larger initiatives or more costly assets. The presentation seeks to describe strategies that have been used to better manage those smaller asset groups that are harder to define.

Like many jurisdictions, the City of Edmonton has a clearly defined budget for capital work and one for maintenance and operations. The capital stream is further divided between open spaces and transportation. The operational division has various programs to address larger assets such as bridges and arterial roadway maintenance, Snow and ice control. The auxiliary structure program is a cross section of all the smaller assets that otherwise don’t fit easily into these categories, or fit into multiple categories. 

It has been critical to rely on the expertise and information from the auxiliary maintenance team because the capital asset managers are more focused on the larger assets. 

A new category of capital funding has been created called minor capital maintenance to allow for capital renewal of some asset groups in a more timely manner. These funds are managed by the capital teams, but largely spent and prioritized by the operational teams since they understand where the highest needs are and the financial impact is rather limited. In this way fences and retaining walls can be replaced outside of a major renewal project. 

In the case of guardrails, standards are changing and traffic patterns evolve over time. The requirements for renewal don’t necessarily match the road renewal schedule but those have been traditionally linked together. Under the minor capital maintenance model, based on the recommendation of traffic safety and the maintenance team, a more adequate solution can be implemented earlier if the need is there.

The presentation will also cover other assets that follow the same model such as sound walls, tree grates and others.