pothole

By Angela Gemmill

It’s time for the annual game of ‘Avoid the Pothole” on Sudbury streets.

The city has road crews and private contractors out repairing the problems caused by the freeze-thaw cycle.

According to Director of Roads and Transportation, David Shelsted, early spring is especially bad for patchwork road repairs because roads freeze then thaw depending on the temperature, which in turn causes more potholes to pop-up.

Hot mix asphalt is the best to fill potholes, but it’s not available locally this time of the year.

The city uses municipal workers and contractors to fill potholes, because sometimes the city workers are busy dealing with other roads and transportation work like snowplowing, flooding-issues or ditching.

Crews try to get to potholes on main arterial roads first, however Shelsted says all problems are usually dealt with in a reasonable time-frame.

The ideal time to properly repair a pothole is in summer months, because the water can be removed from the crater, hot mix asphalt is available and temperatures are right for the repairs to remain fixed.