Potholes plaguing Saint John motorists

Damaged roads are causing problems for many drivers in Saint John, N.B.

It’s a common joke around the Maritimes that on the east coast of Canada there are two seasons – winter and construction.

The sight of potholes around the region, including many in Saint John, is a sign that winter is ending and construction season is about to begin, starting with fixing potholes left by the winter.

While potholes poking up is a yearly tradition this time of year, it seems the potholes are more present this year then years past.

“It’s probably a little more difficult this year in terms of potholes,” admits Tim O’Reilly, who serves as the director for Saint John’s public work department. “It’s just the result of the sudden change from freezing temperatures to warmer temperatures bringing us those potholes.”

A deep frost in the ground that was followed by rapid warming temperatures really gave the potholes a chance to develop this year says O’Reilly. He says the city has two-to-three crews out day and night fixing as many of the larger potholes as possible.

While the city is working to repair as many as they can as quickly as they can, it will be another month before pothole fixing really takes-off in the Port City.

“The hot-mix plants are closed this time of year and they are not open until sometime in April,” notes O’Reilly. “We have moved to an operation of using recycled hot-mix asphalt, we put it through what is called tumblers and we put that on the road surface, so it doesn’t quite last as long.”

O’Reilly says Rothesay Avenue and the city’s west side are some of the more problematic pothole locations in the city.

Motorists admit driving around the city these days is not the most enjoyable of tasks.

“Some of them are so big you can bath a baby,” says Belinda Brothers. “They got to stop patching them and fix them properly.’

“They’re absolutely horrible,” claims Kimberly Belding. “You have to weave and bob, it’s just nuts.”

Driver Linda Duncan says she has to swerve all over the road at times to avoid damaging her car.

“If there was a police car behind me, probably think I’m drunk,” she says.

Rick Butland says he was even pulled over recently because a police officer thought he was drinking and driving, when in reality he was just avoiding the potholes.

“I got a broken strut right now,” Butland says. “That was the day we were getting all that rain, and you couldn’t see the potholes under the water.”

Until the potholes are fixed on a wider scale, mechanics and tire shops around town will stay busy.

One Port City tire shop owner told CTV this is the worse year he can recall when it comes to pothole-related damages. He says his shop is getting upwards of 20 calls a day from drivers who have blown a tire or damaged their rims on a bad patch of road.

Danny Joyce is the owner of Joyce’s Corner Ltd. in the city’s north end. By lunchtime Tuesday he already had four tires come in that could not be fixed because of damages caused by potholes.

He says the issues range from popped tires, broken rims, struts broken, and a variety of other problems a good bump can cause.

Joyce advises drivers to take extra care while driving this time of year, or you could find yourself in an auto shop with a hefty bill.

“There’s one winter tire there that runs around $450 for the tire, and then the one beside it is another probably $280 tire,” says Joyce, pointing to a pair of pothole damaged tires.

“If you bend the rim, you add another few hundred dollars to that. If you break a coil spring you add another $200 or $300 to that, so it can go anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to $1,000 or $1,500 pretty quick and pretty easy.”

Residents who have a concern surrounding a pothole can submit a pothole service request to the city. Since the start of March alone, O’Reilly says the city has gotten over 50 submissions.

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