It’s an inevitability in Winnipeg each spring: pothole season.
According to the city’s manager of streets maintenance, however, the city’s roads aren’t quite as bad this year — thanks in part to the weather.
Michael Cantor told Global News the city fills an average of 170,000 potholes annually, but this year so far, it’s only filled 6,000.
“So far it seems like we got about 20 per cent less potholes than last year, and I think part of it is because we had a relatively dry winter,” he said.
“Every year is a little bit different — it fluctuates. It may be because less drivers are reporting them on the roads, but overall this year is about 20 per cent less than an average year.”
Right now, as Winnipeg is still experiencing some below-freezing temperatures, city workers are plugging the holes temporarily, with a permanent solution to come when things heat up.
“At this time of the year, because we don’t have any access to hot asphalt, we use cold mix. It’s a mix designed to be used during the winter,” said Cantor.
“We’ll come back to some potholes and patch them permanently with hot mix in May and June, once we can access the hot asphalt.”