Manitoba has been going through the wringer, weather-wise, over the past month or so. From late-season snowfalls to temperatures rising, then dropping, then rising again, Mother Nature has played havoc on the province’s roads.
The province’s public auto insurer says the weather contributed to a lot of gaping holes in Manitoba’s roads, with a whopping 406 pothole-related claims made last month. That’s a far cry from February of 2023, which saw only 86 claims.
And while we still haven’t hit the halfway point in March, Manitoba Public Insurance said it has already received 98 claims for cars hitting potholes this month.
University of Manitoba engineering prof Ahmed Shalaby told 680 CJOB’s Connecting Winnipeg that the potholes themselves aren’t necessarily the issue, but rather they’re a symptom of a larger problem.
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“What we need to do is to look broader — consider potholes as the symptoms of a problem, but they are not the problem themselves,” he said.
“The problem has to do with durability and with the root materials that we are using.
“As they age and as we experience climate change, heavier traffic, heavier loads … do we have the right design to basically withstand the effect of repeated freeze/thaw cycles, repeated traffic loads?”
Shalaby said it’s time to consider different materials and standards for roads across the province, and Manitoba needs to take a close look at how it designs them.
“Different materials, different standards, different thicknesses of materials, stronger roads … that’s what’s becoming more obvious to us now, especially with the impact of climate change and especially with the impact of more severe storms,” he said.
According to MPI’s latest numbers, the pothole-related claims this February outpace claims in the same month over the past five years combined.
The Crown corporation is encouraging motorists to stay vigilant about the seasonal traffic hazards, by looking as far down the road as possible, slowing down before you reach a pothole and not swerving suddenly if you spot one, to avoid a crash with another vehicle.
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