Castanet

Is it me or does it seem like the road maintenance in the area has depleted? Our winter has not been as severe and yet every other road seems to be riddled with pot holes. Case in point, the other day I hit a huge pot hole on the highway and it was so big that it blew my low profile winter tires which I had put on over a month ago . I'm trying to figure out why this year is so bad. Has any one else noticed this?

Solution - fill pot holes with pot heads.

Lol..

I think the not-so-severe winter is the cause. Instead of remaining frozen, we have a freeze-thaw cycle that is eating into the roads.

Totally!!!! The huge pot hole the city filled just a few months ago when I turn into my alley is already back!!!!!!

Report them.

I reported three a month ago and they were filled days later..

Now here is a pothole worth complaining about, in Gatineau QC, yesterday.

The one I hit was outside of Oliver, it was about 2 feet long, 1 foot deep right in right tire lane of the road. It blew my tire right out going at highway speeds. Tried calling the road maintenance that handles this area of road, no answer as it was during the lunch hour. Drove back to kelowna with periodic stops to see if I could get tire changed, but due to my tire size ended up going back to tire shop where I purchased the tires a month before and had it changed under warranty. They are every where.. definitely not a good thing for the alignment. That stretch of road was repaired within the week.. but it was baaaad.

Wait, you had your tire replaced by warranty? The tire that blew because you drove into a deep pothole? That sounds like a pretty generous warranty!

A brand new tire should be able to withstand hitting a pot hole, the 10 vehicles ahead of me who hit the same hole were fine. It was the multiple shops I stopped into that told me to get it done under warranty as I had less than 5% wear on it.

There's a pothole developing on Louie Dr. near the Grandview Terrace entrance that promises to be a car-swallower!

Captain Awesome wrote:Solution - fill pot holes with pot heads.

In this City... right, we'd have speed bumps everywhere!! LOL

I think the trick to this problem is timely, fill them tight before fall or with the daily thaw and freeze they become hazardous.

RichardW wrote:I think the not-so-severe winter is the cause. Instead of remaining frozen, we have a freeze-thaw cycle that is eating into the roads.

That's exactly right, yet reading various threads on Castanet, it would appear many aren't getting that. We aren't having a "severe" winter as such, but compared to the ones of the past three or four years, we are almost constantly hovering right at the freezing mark, so bouncing up and down far more than usual where we generally stay in a cool or warm trend for a while.

That fluctuation is wreaking havoc on all our roads, and it has nothing to do with road maintenance, and much more with the fact that potholes are appearing much faster than crews can repair them.

Winters like this there is no substitute for simply being constantly cautious and observant.

You need to determine who the road belongs to. If it is a city road, report it to the city. If it is a district road, report it to the district. If it is a highway, report it to the Ministry of Transportation.

While I can't comment of city or district roads, it's obvious that road maintenance on highways has deteriorated greatly in the past decade. The standards have been reduced by the government and it's showing. Potholes that used to be patched properly are just being filled with cold mix, which won't last the winter. Repaving Okanagan highways are being delayed to save money. Line painting has been reduced. There are two reasons; it's all a move by the government to keep costs down to keep the corporate tax rate 2.45% below the national average, and much of the maintenance money for our Okanagan roads has been redirected to the Port Mann Bridge project in Vancouver. Vancouver votes are more important than Okanagan votes.

Frozen Nibs wrote:The one I hit was outside of Oliver, it was about 2 feet long, 1 foot deep right in right tire lane of the road. It blew my tire right out going at highway speeds. Tried calling the road maintenance that handles this area of road, no answer as it was during the lunch hour. Drove back to kelowna with periodic stops to see if I could get tire changed, but due to my tire size ended up going back to tire shop where I purchased the tires a month before and had it changed under warranty. They are every where.. definitely not a good thing for the alignment. That stretch of road was repaired within the week.. but it was baaaad.

We were travelling in a party of two about 1.5 months ago. The car ahead "Heavy 4 door sedan with steel wheels" hit it, but never blew the tire. We were in a truck behind and swerved. I can Believe after 1.5 months no one has done anything. Its right beside some trees and a small grey fruit packing building I believe.