While many Calgarians may be reveling in the warmer-than-normal temperatures this fall, the City of Calgary says the warm, dry weather has also helped crews fill nearly 36,000 potholes so far this year.
“That is a record year for us,” according to Chris Hewitt, manager of mobility maintenance for the City of Calgary. “Last year we did just over 33,000 and we were working into December. Hopefully if the weather keeps like this we will be able to keep going a few more weeks.”
The average number of potholes filled by city crews over the past five years is about 23,000, said Hewitt, and some years the early arrival of winter has forced an end to pothole repair season in September.
Hewitt made his comments on Thursday morning as city crews hosted a show-and-tell on pothole repairs for the Calgary media.
The event took place just a month after a city report issued a dire warning about the state of Calgary’s roads, saying they are some of the worst in Canada amongst the country’s major cities.
The report said Calgary currently spends about $2,000/km/year on roads, whereas other big Canadian cities, like Edmonton and Montreal spend between $12,500 and $17,000 per year on their roads.
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“Calgary used to have the best roads in Alberta or even Western Canada, not anymore,” Calgary driver Amandeep Randhawa told Global News.
Asked why there are so many potholes to fill, Hewitt says, “I think what we are seeing is a couple factors lead into it — the overall quality of the roads, we are seeing a decrease, so that’s going to cause more potholes. We are also seeing more freeze-thaw cycles over the winter season so that will cause more damage come spring.”
City council has vowed to spend more money to improve the quality of Calgary’s roads, but just how much more will be part of upcoming budget discussions.
“We need to make sure we’re taking a complete view of how we keep our roads in good shape and yeah, we’re far behind,” Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek told Global News.
Previously, city council voted to use left over snow removal funds to help boost pavement rehabilitation.
In its report to city council last month, city administration recommended a boost of $14.5 million annually in 2025 and 2026.
However, proposed budget documents don’t reflect that additional investment showing just $10 million more in 2025 and 2026.
“It’s not clear in the budget exactly where those line items lie, those are questions I will be asking,” Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot told Global News. “I think those investments are critical.”
Chabot said he would prefer using surplus funds from local access fees to boost the roads budget, as this year’s property tax increase is capped at 3.6 per cent with little wiggle room.
As proof of the city’s commitment, Hewitt and his road repair crew also showed off their newest tool for pothole repairs.
Its called an ‘infrared asphalt heater’ and it heats up the old asphalt around the pothole or crack in the road to create a more seamless repair.
“The results can include a smoother surface between repair and road and potentially longer-lasting repairs, which in turn improve the overall quality and durability of the road surface,” said Hewitt.
“We are not leaving seams. The seams are typically where we’ve filled a pothole and the water can get into cracks around the edges. With this we are fixing that whole area and eliminating that seam.”
The new piece of equipment also requires a smaller crew to operate than traditional pothole repair methods, so Hewitt says that should save money.
While he hopes the new repair methods and a longer pothole repair season means there will be fewer divots in our roads to repair next spring, Hewitt admits it will also depend on Mother Nature.
“We also have to consider the winter we are going to have — if we see a winter with a lot of freeze-thaw cycles, that’s when we will typically see more potholes forming come spring”.
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