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HomeNewsPothole repair costs city almost $2 million last year

Pothole repair costs city almost $2 million last year

KAWARTHA LAKES-The wild fluctuations in temperature over the winter can wreak havoc on our roads. Kawartha 411 has learned in 2017 the City spent almost $2 million dollars on potholes, $1,296,000 on cold patch pothole repair and $510,000 on hot mix asphalt repair.

Kent Street, Lindsay

The numbers are double the cost to fix the pothole problem in 2015. That year the city spent almost $930,000.

By comparison the City of Toronto says it spends between $4 and $5 million to fix potholes. Over the past three years, Toronto has repaired an average of 210,500 potholes annually.

The city says potholes are labour intenive and there’s a lot of road to cover in CKL and some are not built to standard. “CKL has roughly 1800 km hard surfaced roads so there are a lot of roads to maintain and gilling potholes is labour intensive.” Says Bryan Robinson, Director of Public Works.  “The City’s road inventory includes a large amount of substandard roads (roads not build to current construction standards) we are obligated to maintain”

Potholes are created when water penetrates the top layer of asphalt through cracks in the road. When the moisture freezes and expands, sections of the pavement are forced up. The weight of vehicles going over this section of road breaks the pavement and the asphalt is forced out.

Pothole patching is temporary in nature, so the repair process is repetitive.” Says Robinson.

Roads in the City of Kawartha Lakes are classified according to how much they are used and patching is done on a priority basis. Potholes on Class 1 and 2 roads must be fixed within four days. Class 3 roads within seven days and Class 4 within 14 days. The guidelines are within 30 days for class 5. “Once at the site, an average pothole can be filled in less than a minute.” According to Robinson. “Usually patching crews are deployed in teams of 2-3. The City can issue roughly 9 patching crews at once depending on other workload and demands.”

The City of Kawartha Lakes puts load restrictions into place during the spring thaw, when road damage is most likely to occur due to heavy loading. This program identifies and imposes load restrictions on roads, or portions of roads that are weakened by excess water in the road base. Once the road has been determined to be structurally sound, load restrictions may be rescinded.

Due to the fluctuating weather pattern recently the City has imposed load restrictions to protect the integrity of the road network starting on February 19th.  Crews will monitor conditions and amend the notice as appropriate. Load weight will be restricted on most secondary roads throughout the City.

Staff will be working to complete the core service review on Pot Hole Patching this summer with data obtained over the last year. “This will provide additional clarity on potholes for Council and the public.” Robinson explains. 

Council has all allocated funds into a new $1.2M program called road lifecycle extension (led by Engineering and Corporate Assets) with is targeted to extend life of current roads (keep the good roads good). Program will consist of activities such as crack sealing, micro-surfacing and other surface treatment measures.

To report a pothole go to:https://forms.kawarthalakes.ca/Report-an-Issue

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Pamela Vanmeer
Pamela Vanmeerhttps://www.kawartha411.ca/
Pamela VanMeer is a two time winner of the prestigious Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) Award. Her investigative reports on abuse in Long Term Care Homes garnered international attention for the issue and won the Ron Laidlaw Award. She is a former reporter and anchor at CHEX News, now Global Peterborough and helped launch the New CHEX Daily, a daily half hour talk show. While at CHCH News in Hamilton she covered some of the biggest news stories of the day.

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