You may notice a pair of workers grinding off the edges of the sidewalk on your street in Lehi this summer. All city sidewalks are required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to be safe for those in wheelchairs. Workers remove the elevated ridges where the blocks of sidewalk join so they do not trip pedestrians or provide an obstacle for disabled citizens.
This trip risk removal is a big job that is best accomplished in the summer months, as concrete actually swells in the heat. Lehi City has contracted with a company called Precision Concrete, which performs this sidewalk “shaving” work with a patented grinding saw and process. According to Wade Allred, Lehi City Street Superintendent, “every sidewalk in the city is inspected for trip risk every two years. It’s a big job that many residents are not aware of.”
Allred says Lehi City replaces all damaged sidewalks as quickly as possible. The cost to make these sidewalk repairs exceeds $500,000 per year. Allred’s department is also responsible for snow removal in the winter. Last year on Christmas Day alone, according to snowplow GPS trackers, Lehi’s snow removal crews plowed over 4,800 lane miles over and over as they removed the heavy snowfall. “It wasn’t my best Christmas!” said Allred.
