Community Pothole Reporting Means Better Roads
For
immediate release: March 28, 2014
Hundreds of people are using their mobile devices and desktops to help us find potholes on major streets around the city. Since its launch March 17, there have been 469 trouble locations reported by residents in all areas of the city using the City’s Report a Pothole interactive map. While we aren’t into the Spring Pothole Blitz yet, we’ve repaired 247 of the larger reported pothole on major streets, plus hundreds of others!
“While we want people to call Public Works Customer Service to report emergency locations, there are definitely fewer calls for regular pothole reports than three weeks ago before we launched the tool,” says Pat Hyde, Director of Public Works. “It’s difficult to track the exact number of potholes we repair, but our initial observation is that the online reports represent about 10 per cent of the actual potholes that are out there.”
City crews have been repairing potholes in the driving lane of the Priority 1 & 2 streets since the snow started melting with a temporary cold mix asphalt to prevent damage to vehicles and for safety. The cold mix is a semi-permanent patching material that can be used in temperatures above -10 degrees Celsius (with wind chill) even where moisture exists. The preferred permanent patching material is an hot mix asphalt, which is not available from our suppliers until the warm weather is sustained and overnight lows are above zero.
Approximately 40 per cent of the reported locations on the map are excavation locations from completed City or private underground utility work. These are known as utility cuts and have a temporary gravel/recycled asphalt cover until they can be properly paved in the summer. Those on Priority 1, 2 and 3 streets are maintained daily and remaining utility cuts are monitored on a less frequent basis and as residents call in reports about issues. While we are monitoring and re-grading these sites regularly, we will be leaving these dots red on the Report a Pothole map until they are permanently patched.
Once a pothole is reported on the map, an inspector checks it out and rates it on the following:
- Severe/emergency: deep and larger than a tire with potential for damage,
- Requires repair: large in driving lane of Priority 1 or 2 street, or
- Can wait for Spring Blitz: small to medium, or outside of driving lanes.
Severe and emergency locations are addressed immediately by the nearest pothole patching unit. Large potholes in the driving lane of priority 1 and 2 streets will be scheduled for repair the next day. The inspector, along with area supervisors and crews, is also on the look-out for unreported severe/emergency potholes. The reported potholes, represented by red dots on the map, are updated to green dots at the end of the day they are repaired.
“Once the hot mix asphalt is available into the first two weeks of April, the Spring Pothole Blitz will begin and every size of pothole will be repaired on high-traffic, collector and arterial streets,” says Hyde. “Potholes on residential and other streets will be addressed during the summer pothole program, unless they are determined to be severe requiring attention sooner.”
Please report severe/emergency locations to Customer Service at 306-975-2476 so we can fix them as quickly as possible. For more information about the pothole and utility cut programs, visit saskatoon.ca and select “P” for Potholes.
For more City of Saskatoon Public Service Announcements, News Releases, Traffic Detours and Service Alerts, visit www.saskatoon.ca/go/traffic. You can also follow us on Twitter @cityofsaskatoon and with #betterroads and like Saskatoon City News on Facebook.