Officials say they are testing a new way of fixing potholes across the city of Winnipeg, which mixes a combination of ingredients.
One is called ‘Road Soup‘.
In a release on Friday, the city’s manager of streets maintenance Michael Cantor said the hope is to provide “permanent patching power” to better address the pothole problem.
“Every year potholes become a problem as soon as the freeze-thaw cycle hits,” he said. “And every year it frustrates us that we can’t just patch a pothole once when it first appears.”
Road Soup, the city said, is a new proprietary tar, which includes a brew of recycled asphalt. It added the mix will go along with hot asphalt repairs throughout the summer to see how effective it may be during winter months.
“Temporary patches are just that – temporary,” Cantor said in the release. “We know the material we must apply in winter doesn’t always stand up and makes getting around harder for drivers and cyclists. This new product could potentially, down the line, reduce the need for multiple repairs of the same hole.”
According to the city, repairs have been typically done using a temporary material for cold weather repairs, described as a pebbly asphalt mix, which for the city is just a band-aid solution.
A little over 1,600 pothole related claims were reported to the Manitoba Public Insurance as of April 7. Compared to previous years, that number is over half what was reported throughout 2023.
2022 had the most claims, with nearly 5,400 recorded that year.