’Lost all faith’: Nine months after reported, barricaded pothole remains on city street By: Scott Billeck Posted: 6:20 PM CST Monday, Mar. 3, 2025 Last Modified: 8:45 PM CST Monday, Mar. 3, 2025 Updates

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Dennis Loupin figured a fix was imminent when the city put barricades around a nasty pothole near his Fort Garry home.

Months later, with silence coming from the city, the Somerville Avenue resident wonders what the point of reporting craters is.

“I’ve just lost all faith in them,” Loupin said Monday.

Residents in the area first encountered the sizeable gash in the pavement, close to a manhole cover, late last May. A complaint was lodged, and soon after, the city put up barricades to keep motorists from taking hefty bumps.

Months passed.

Loupin was sure the city would come fix it before the first snowfall. That never came to pass.

Early December, he made another report to 311, attaching another picture and a frustrated message.

“This huge pothole has been there since May 26, 2024,” he wrote on the city’s online pothole report form. “City barricades were set up. It is directly beside a manhole/sewer cover and is deep. This pothole has been there over six months now. Someone should be fired for such ongoing incompetence.”

He checked yes to the question of whether or not the pothole was at least six inches deep and 18 inches wide.

An email back to Loupin said the request would be reviewed by Feb. 4.

“I have received no correspondence since,” he said.

“I’ve just lost all faith in them.”–Dennis Loupin

A city spokesperson said Monday barricades are not usually put up around potholes unless underground-related conditions need to be resolved first, often by the water and waste department.

Deputy mayor and chair of the city’s infrastructure and public works committee, Coun. Janice Lukes, said even if additional work needed to be done, waiting nearly a year is “unacceptable.”

“As long as the sewer pipe doesn’t have to be replaced, there’s no reason why that shouldn’t be fixed,” she said. “That’s ridiculous. And even if they did need a big pipe, they should be able to patch it up. I’d be having a fit if it was in my ward.”

River Heights-Fort Garry Coun. John Orlikow did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.

Last week, with the bitterly cold weather making way for warmer climes, the city invited residents to give it a hand snuffing out the most problematic holes, which have begun to sprout.

Motorists were asked to report potholes through the city’s online form or by calling 311.

The city said crews were already out, prioritizing repairs on main and bus routes and collector streets.

Since Feb. 26, the city has received 333 reports.

Loupin says Somerville is a busy street in the neighbourhood, collecting a lot of traffic from the “planets” — a collection of streets in the area named after planets in the solar system — before vehicles transfer to Beaumont Street to head south toward McGillivray Boulevard or Windermere Avenue heading east toward Pembina Highway.

“That’s ridiculous… I’d be having a fit if it was in my ward.”–Janice Lukes

Luke said despite that, it’s not considered a feeder street but, rather, a residential road.

“Our expected timeframe for repairing potholes on residential streets is 60 days for non-hazardous and three days for hazardous,” the city spokesperson said. “Unfortunately, due to the number of potholes, some non-hazardous potholes are left unattended over the winter months.”

Loupin understands the need to prioritize the city’s main thoroughfares, but felt the need for a barricade would move the needle.

“I figured you could expect three weeks or so, especially if they’re busy or if there’s weather,” he said. “But it’s been close to a year.

In an email later Monday, the city committed to sending a crew out to assess the pothole on Somerville.

The city filled in an unprecedented 357,131 potholes in 2024, a rise of nearly 115,000 from the 242,362 plugged in 2023, figures show.

Manitoba Public Insurance told the Free Press late last year it had seen more than double the pothole-related claims in 2024 compared to the previous year, with 4,971 claims up to the latter half of November compared to 2,438 in the whole of 2023.

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca