By Shaun Penner

City working on potholes after cold winter, rapid temperature change

Mar 18, 2019 | 1:40 PM

It’s no surprise that drivers are currently dealing with a litany of potholes they have to avoid on Grande Prairie streets.

After the second coldest February in the last 50 years in the Swan City, to go with a rapid temperature change to above zero days (some in double digits), the city has plenty of ruts and divots that need tending to.

“It is high pothole season, for sure,” said Transportation Manager for the City, Robert Carroll. “We get these warmer days and cooler nights, that’s really what makes them. The water that’s sitting on the road because of the snow melting gets into the cracks and crevices of the road and freezes and thaws. That expansion and contraction causes the pothole to be created.”

City crews are already out filling many potholes around the city, noted Carroll, using a cold-mix asphalt. The cold-mix is a cheaper option to a hot-mix asphalt and is a more temporary option. However, before a hot asphalt filler can be used effectively, night time temperatures would need to stay well above zero degrees and the ground would have to be fully thawed at the time of repair.  

The city is currently in the process of purchasing an asphalt recycler, though, which will give crews the ability to apply hot-mix asphalt year-round.

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“(It’s a) piece of equipment that allows us to heat up the surface around the pothole, so that the hot-mix material that we are adding to it gets consolidated into the pothole and gets compacted, and you get more of a permanent type repair,” said Carroll.

The city is hoping to have that machinery running within the next couple months, but in the meantime will be continuing to use cold-mix as a temporary fix.

Carroll notes that there are a couple of ways for residents to contact the city if they spot a pothole that they believe needs to be repaired. SeeClickFix is an online reporting tool residents can use to contact the city online, which is then put into the queue for the city to investigate and repair if required. Residents can also see which potholes have already been reported and the status of those repairs.

Residents can also call the Customer Contact Centre at 780-538-0300.

“Just be careful out there, potholes can appear overnight,” said Carroll. “It’s a time that you get these freeze-thaws on a daily basis and that is what wreaks the havoc, for sure.”