Spring is pothole season in southern Alberta, says City of Lethbridge Transportation Operations Manager Juliane Ruck. “Everybody has noticed there’s a lot of potholes out there.”
Since mid-April, Ruck notes, the City has received asphalt from local suppliers. “Crews have been out day and night to fix potholes. We try to focus first on the real busy roads. Over the course of the summer, we’ll move onto residential roads and some back lanes.”
Last year, Ruck says, there were over 900 service requests for potholes. “We are anticipating it will be similar this year. We already have 350 service requests in the cue. We are working to address all of those.”
On average, there’s five to 10 potholes per service request location.
Residents can call 3-1-1 to inform the City about pothole locations, says Ruck. “If the pothole is in the drive lane, please share that with 3-1-1 because that can become a substantial issue and we’d like to know about it and address it as soon as we can.”
Budget-wise, road maintenance includes several projects put into one budget, including pothole repair. “Just for potholes alone, it’s around $150,000.”
Ruck says the City sees a lot of potholes in the spring because water infiltrates into the asphalt during the winter, freezes and vehicles drive over the areas and it loosens up the asphalt and creates potholes.
Drivers can help by slowing down when driving around road repair crews and reporting dangerous potholes right away. If you can’t avoid a pothole, approach it slowly to reduce the impact on a vehicle. For cyclists, cycle with care and report hazards, as cycling lanes and boulevards can have potholes and road damage too.