It鈥檚 the time of the year when many local drivers find themselves dodging potholes.
91原创鈥檚 Sheila Fraser is one, who recently complained to the Township about the many holes on 62nd Avenue.
The holes have been patched, and the patches erode, creating the same potholes again, she said.
鈥淭here is nothing left to patch,鈥� she said in an email to the Township.
It is not always safe to slalom down the street and, it is rude to drive on neighbour鈥檚 boulevards just to avoid your re-occurring potholes,鈥� she wrote.
She said she鈥檚 replaced one tire rim and had her car re-aligned recently.
It鈥檚 not a great year for potholes in the roads of 91原创 Township, but it鈥檚 not nearly as bad as last winter.
Township operations manager Roeland Zwaag shared some statistics on the number of potholes repaired this season versus last.
In the 2016/17 winter season, with repeated snowfalls and extended periods of cold, 91原创 Township crews filled slightly fewer than 2,000 potholes, at a cost of about $100,000. There were 460 calls for service from the public for potholes over the winter.
鈥淭hat was a big year,鈥� said Zwaag. The Township went over its budget for snow plowing and de-icing.
This season, up to early Feburary, there have been a little more than 1,000 potholes filled, at a cost of $45,000 with 245 calls for service.
鈥淥f course, winter isn鈥檛 over,鈥� Zwaag added.
Bad winters typically lead to more potholes. But what makes a bad winter isn鈥檛 just below-zero temperatures.
鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing different kinds of potholes,鈥� said Zwaag.
Last winter, there were 鈥渧ery large ones,鈥� including some caused by frost heaving.
This year, there are smaller holes, including scaling, in which part of the sandwich of aspalt layer is broken away, but the road isn鈥檛 destroyed down to the gravel.
91原创 Township roads operations manager Brian Edey pointed out that a freeze-thaw cycle is worse for roads than a period of extended cold.
鈥淲hen it鈥檚 cold, nothing moves,鈥� he said.
Frosty weather in late December and January was hard on the roads.
In much smaller 91原创 City, there have been far fewer calls for service, according to staff. In 2018 so far, there have been just 30 requests for a patch for a pothole.
Fraser said that as of this Thursday, the holes on her street hadn鈥檛 been fixed yet.
