It’s World Pothole Day.
If you’re a driver in PG, you’re probably all-too familiar with driving like you’re in an off-road obstacle course right now.
City Councillor Jillian Merrick says potholes are a big problem on PG’s streets, but has found it to be a big problem in cities she’s visited across the country.
“I went to Smithers recently, and there’s certainly a pothole problem there,” she says. “There’s obviously less roads. I think that’s why Prince George really stands out, because we have a typical pothole problem. We have 600 kilometres of paved road to take care of.”
Roads Manager for the City, Flavio Viola agrees and says cities with a similar freeze / thaw cycle as Prince George have a similar number of potholes.
“If you go to Edmonton, they have issues with potholes, just as we do here,” he says.
Merrick is all-too familiar with the gaping wounds in our streets and calls this “An era of fiscal responsibility ” where governments realize they need to put money into our roads constantly to keep them up to shape.
“It’s going to take awhile to catch up to the neglect that they’ve had over the years,” she says. “We can dump a lot of money into fixing our potholes, but they’re still going to exist.”
Merrick does most of her travelling by bicycle around the city and says potholes are a big problem for cyclists as well as drivers.
“During the daytime, they do pose a risk, you have to swerve around them, but you have to be sure that when you’re swerving, you’re not running into traffic,” she says. “At night they can be a real killer, because even with lights on the bikes, sometimes they just don’t show up very well and some of the potholes are large enough that you could be head over heels off the bike pretty quickly.”
The city reports that the number of potholes to patch is on the decline, though Viola estimates there are more holes on our streets now than there were this time last year.
In 2012 about 22,000 were fixed though 14,000 were fixed in 2014, with a budget of around $7 million.
This year, some of the worst spots in the city are Tyner Bvld., Ferry Ave., Queensway, and Upland St., according to Viola.
If you see a pothole you can report it to the city through their website.