Pothole ‘blitz’ begins
Andrea Macko, Staff Reporter While many are pleased to finally experience the warming temperatures of spring, these welcome conditions bring with them a less positive sign of the season: potholes.
The town’s public works staff has began its ongoing pothole “blitz,” says director of public works Kevin Luckhardt, filing in holes and cracks noticed by staff during its weekly road inspection of the entire town network (public works supervisor Dave Sharp also inspects the town’s main thruways
on a daily basis).
Luckhardt says the town has only received two telephone calls of problem potholes so far this year, but that neither exceeded the minimum maintenance standard as set out by the Ministry of Transportation.
On Queen, James and Water street (Class 3 roads), potholes deeper than 8 cm require repairs within seven days of notification; all other roads in town (Class 4 roads) require repairs within 14 days of notification. For both, potholes have to be slightly larger than one square foot to require
attention.
Public Works is using a cold patch material to fill in minor holes and cracks; hot asphalt is not produced from December to May as it does not set well during cold weather (larger potholes will be patched with asphalt when weather permits).
The pothole situation hasn’t been that bad so far this year, notes Luckhardt. A prolonged spring thaw, where water fills up cracks and splashes around when vehicles drive through it, causes the greatest road craters.
Luckhardt says that the worst roads will be repaired, then be
surface-treated (tar and chipped) later this summer. He adds that the town
is currently reviewing which roads will be resurfaced this year, but that
approximately 10 to 12,000 square metres of road will be done, roughly the
same amount as in years past.