File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Potholes

‘We’re just holding them together with Band-aids’: City of Kamloops pothole crews working 24-hours-a-day

Jan 23, 2020 | 10:40 AM

KAMLOOPS — The worst season of the year for the City of Kamloops streets department isn’t winter or spring, it’s the unofficial fifth season in between: potholes.

“This is definitely the most challenging season for us — between now and April,” Streets and Environmental Services Manager Glen Farrow told CFJC Today Thursday (Jan. 23). “We’re continuing to fight snow in the higher elevations — even this morning, we had snow. We’re dealing with ice challenges in the lower elevations as well as potholes through the evening.”

Much like when the snow is falling on all parts of the city, the civic operation’s 11-person streets crews are staggered to work morning, afternoon and overnight on maintaining the roads. Farrow says as of this week, that includes an intense focus on arterial route pothole repair.

“We’re aware of the issues on roads such as McGill, Tranquille, Westsyde Road, Notre Dame, Summit… those are known arterials that, in the future, are planned for resurfacing projects,” said Farrow. “But between now and when that project is — if that’s in 2022 or 2023 — we’re just holding them together with Band-aids in a lot of cases.”

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The melting snow leads to wet roads that crumble faster. Repair patching on asphalt is not as effective when the roads are wet because the water prevents a strong bond with existing asphalt.

But Farrow says his department is taking advantage of advances in road repair technology.

“We are looking at a product right now that actually is enhanced and works by adding water,” said Farrow. “Usually, asphalt and water don’t mix. This particular product actually helps form the bond and tighten things up better with the presence of water.

“It’s quite costly but if we’re able to go to a patch once every two weeks (rather) than every other day, that’s a huge savings on not having staff go back to the same spot over and over and over again.”

While members of the public can report potholes on the City of Kamloops app and through its reporting hotline (250-828-3461), Farrow notes his department is required, for insurance purposes, to address public complaints immediately. That means the more public reports it receives, the less efficient his department can be.

“The problem with a lot of the calls and complaints that we get around potholes is, rather than systematically going through the community, we’re essentially chasing where the complaints are,” said Farrow.

Even so, Farrow says the department still wants to hear about road problems that may become hazardous. But he notes we do live in Canada, where the change in temperatures causes pavement problems everywhere.

“This time of year is, by far, the worst,” he said. “Through the summer, we’re able to do larger, more permanent patches or repairs. This time of year, the presence of water and the continuing shifting movement of the asphalt definitely causes challenges.”