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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Gasp... it's the attack of the giant potholes

City spending more this year to patch streets

By: Lindsey Wiebe and Bartley Kives

Posted: 04/4/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Monstrous potholes in Winnipeg are more than a jarring rite of spring -- they cost the city big bucks.

Winnipeg has already spent $400,000 to repair potholes this year, $175,000 more than it spent patching the streets at this time last year, said Bruce McPhail, the city's street-maintenance manager.

Earlier this year, McPhail predicted a normal pothole season.

But moisture from recent storms and the subsequent freeze-and-thaw cycles have deteriorated roads quickly, he said.

"The potholes we're seeing out there right now are much larger than normal potholes," he said Friday.

"There are some serious situations we're trying to address as soon as we can."

Those mega-potholes haven't escaped the attention of drivers.

"Certainly, there are some city streets, as is traditional, that are in pretty rough shape," said Manitoba Trucking Association general manger Bob Dolyniuk. "I know Dugald Road has been in just absolutely horrible shape.

Inkster Boulevard is pretty rough as well."

One driver described the stretch of Inkster between Main Street and McPhillips Street as a veritable obstacle course.

"I was weaving and twisting all the way down and thinking 'When are city crews going to fix this?' because they can cause serious damage to a vehicle if hit too hard, of course," wrote reader Holly Walker in an email, after the Free Press requested stories of pothole woes.

Reader David A. Newman said one pothole on Munroe Avenue is getting worse. "This is not a pothole the size of a watermelon," he wrote. "It's the size of a fairly big kitchen table spanning most of the lane."

The city has barricaded a handful of severely pockmarked streets, including a high-traffic lane on Ness Avenue at Berry Street.

Road conditions were too wet on Friday for automated pothole-patching machines to be effective, so the city deployed crews to repair potholes by hand. Ten of those crews will work 12-hour days today and Sunday, McPhail said. Weather permitting, he hopes to have automated patching machines back on the road today or Sunday.

Manitoba Public Insurance spokesman Brian Smiley said potholes are a routine problem this time of year.

MPI gets 300 to 400 pothole-related claims per year, a number he said has been consistent for the last five or six years.

Potholes can do heavy damage to the unlucky vehicles that bounce through them.

Blown tires and bent rims are fairly common problems, said Smiley, and damage to shocks and tire rods are also possible.

More serious potholes can cause front-end damage.

The impact varies, depending on how fast you're driving and the size of the pothole. All-Star Collision & Glass manager John Hodgins said potholes can also damage CV joints or ball joints on older cars, and estimates the average cost at around $1,300, higher for those mega-potholes that made headlines this month.

"If it's a foot deep and almost 36 inches wide, you're going to have a major problem," he said.

But drivers don't seem to be griping too much about road conditions. CAA Manitoba spokeswoman Samantha Charran said they've had just one phone call from a driver complaining about the potholes.

"We think the city's doing a pretty good job," she said.

lindsey.wiebe@freepress.mb.ca bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

The cost, Part 1

$400,000

amount spent on pothole repairs by the city this year, so far

$225,000

amount spent on pothole repairs at this time last year

300 to 400

number of pothole-related claims Manitoba Public Insurance gets annually

$2,100

average pothole claim to MPI

The cost, Part 2

Blown tires and bent rims are common pothole problems for vehicles, and damage to shocks and tire rods is possible. They can also damage your vehicle's CV joints, or ball joints on older cars. The average repair cost is around $1,300.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 4, 2009 A5

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