The City of Winnipeg is diverting staff from other duties this year to repair a large number of potholes; so far, more than 240,000 potholes have been filled.
After repeated freeze-thaw cycles and excessive rainfall wreaked havoc on the streets, the city is now deploying 14 crews of four to six workers each to the task.
Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 8 of this year, crews filled about 241,013 potholes. This estimate is based on the amount of material used to fill the holes. The total also includes some cracks that were repaired more than once after rain washed away the fill material.
“I can’t remember the potholes ever being this bad in the last 10 years I’ve worked at City Hall,” said Councilwoman Janice Lukes, chair of the Public Works Committee. “It was terrible.”
The number of repairs has been significantly higher since at least 2018 than in the same period of previous years. In second place is the year 2022 with 170,203 repairs in the same period.
City employees have worked 59,100 regular hours and 10,963 overtime hours so far this year to fill the gaps, also a seven-year high.
Lukes (Waverley West) blamed the weather and ageing infrastructure for the severity of the problem.
“It was a combination of the winter (freeze-thaw cycles), a very, very wet spring and the age of our old infrastructure,” she said. “It’s like putting a filling in a rotten tooth.”
Filling the holes is an important safety measure, she said.
“Roads are a crucial part of our existence,” she said. “We can’t fly everything in by helicopter.”
Lukes said crews assigned to pothole removal typically perform concrete work, including replacing sidewalk slabs and repairing curbs.
In 2023, the city estimates there will be an average of 10 to 11 pothole-clearing crews on site at any given time, but exact numbers are not available, spokeswoman Julie Horbal Dooley said in an email.
At the same time, the timelines the city is aiming for to repair potholes vary considerably: they range from three days for a regional road in winter to 90 days for a residential street in summer.
Lukes said weather is a critical factor in the repair schedule.
Michael Cantor, the city’s road maintenance director, expects some potholes to remain, but said they are not unusual.
“There are always some potholes left on the table because we just can’t reach them … We’ve noticed that the pile of 311 calls left behind has gotten bigger over the last couple of years, at least the last three years,” Cantor said.
The city typically fills all potholes on regional and collector roads as well as potholes on residential streets that are considered dangerous, he said.
The wet weather in May and June made the repair work particularly difficult.
“I can’t remember such a wet spring and early summer where we’ve struggled so much to catch up and repair the damage,” he said, adding that some concrete work would be postponed to focus on potholes, including some that may not be completed this construction season.
“We’re losing that productivity on the concrete side. But we understand that the potholes are more important because most of them are really related (to) safety maintenance.”
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS A pothole on Westminster Avenue.
A River Heights resident who reported a deep pothole on Campbell Street in the spring that took months to repair was pleased with the extra attention.
“We have infrastructure that cannot be maintained and that, if not properly repaired, will continue to deteriorate,” John Embil said, adding that the city should increase its annual budget for pothole repairs.
“Congratulations to the city for taking this issue seriously. … Hopefully it won’t be as bad next year or they’ll take care of it right away,” he said.
John Vernaus, owner of Vernaus Auto Body, said he still sees “a steady influx” of vehicles needing repairs after an unpleasant encounter with a pothole.
As of Monday, Manitoba Public Insurance had received 3,209 pothole claims in Winnipeg this year, exceeding the number of claims for the entire year since at least 2019, excluding the 4,451 claims in 2022.
In an email, spokeswoman Kristy Rydz said that drivers typically report fewer pothole-related claims in the last months of the year, beginning in September each year.
MIKAELA MACKENZIE / FREE PRESS A pothole at River Road and Riel Avenue.
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The City of Winnipeg’s estimated timeline for repairing a reported pothole varies depending on the road type and time of year. See below for details.
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The City of Winnipeg’s estimated time frames for repairing a reported pothole vary depending on the road type and time of year as follows:
Winter:
• Regional roads (priority 1) – within three days
• Collector roads (Priority 2) – within seven days
• Local roads (Priority 3, residential areas) – within 15 days
Spring:
• Regional roads (Priority 1) – within seven days
• Collector roads (priority 2) – within 16 days
• Local roads (Priority 3) – within 60 days
Summer:
• Regional roads (priority 1) – within five days.
• Collector roads (priority 2) – within seven days.
• Local roads (Priority 3) – within 90 days.
Note: Actual repair times vary as quantity increases and decreases.
Source: City of Winnipeg
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Joyanne Pursaga
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Joyanne is a city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. She has been a reporter since 2004 and has covered politics exclusively since 2012. She writes about city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press Early 2020. Read more about Joyanne.
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