City crews tackling Edmonton’s ‘year-round’ pothole problem

WATCH ABOVE: Thanks to some extreme weather fluctuations, Edmonton’s pothole season has arrived early. Vinesh Pratap reports.

EDMONTON — Residents of Alberta’s capital city may welcome the warmer winter weather, but they certainly aren’t pleased that potholes are back with a vengeance.

The City of Edmonton says unseasonably warm temperatures and a high number of freeze/thaw cycles in January and February have kept crews busy — not only clearing snow and ice — but also “addressing the potholes that have begun to appear on city streets.”

“This year seems to be starting a littler earlier,” said Bob Dunford, Edmonton’s director of roadway maintenance.

“The erratic weather, the amount of thawing and then freezing through January and February has really aggravated the situation.”

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“Normally, we’d be facing this in mid to late March,” explained Dunford. “We have been of course addressing potholes right through the winter season. Every time we get a warm spell we get pothole crews out there as soon as they’re finished up with the snow.”

Dunford said this year on, city council will direct $55 million a year to arterial roads.

WATCH: The city recently launched the 311 Explorer map to track where different 311 complaints are being made. Emily Mertz walks us through the pothole category.

Just last week, the city launched 311 Explorer, an online tool that lets you search the 311 reports that have been filed in any ward or neighbourhood in Edmonton. The interactive online map allows users to explore complaints, open or closed, made in 12 different service categories.

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READ MORE: Which Edmonton ward files the most complaints with 311? 

Between Jan. 31, 2013 and Feb. 19, 2015, the second-most complained about issue was potholes, which received 31,646 (or 24 per cent) of complaints. According to the 311 map, there are 1,492 open pothole complaints dating back to 2013.

The graphic below shows where in Edmonton pothole complaints are being made.

The most-complained about issue was snow and ice maintenance.

Between Jan. 31, 2013 and Feb. 19, 2015, 311 has received 131,907 complaints.