Sudbury potholes even worse this year thanks to winter-like spring

Aaron Taxi in Sudbury says it is paying thousands of dollars this spring fixing cabs being damaged by this spring's crop of potholes.

The winter-like spring this year is taking a toll on area roads.

Deep potholes in Sudbury are popping up faster than crews can work to temporarily fill them.

Aaron Taxi, a local taxi company that puts seven million kilometres a year on its fleet, said the pothole season is taking a heavy toll on its vehicles.

It’s making the mechanic’s bay at Aaron Taxi a busy place, with daily repairs needed because of the potholes.

“There are some that are just destroying the front ends of the vehicles and rims and tires,” said Mike Sanders, owner of Aaron Taxi.

Greater Sudbury said when the roads are not covered with snow, it has 10 crews out making temporary repairs on potholes. So far this year, 56,000 have been filled.

Temporary fixes

“As of right now we are pretty much at the same number of potholes that we filled for the entire pothole season last year,” said Dan Thibeault, the city’s acting director of linear services.

“We will be filling more this year than last year, but I don’t know what those numbers are exactly just yet.”

Pothole repairs this time of year are temporary, using recycled asphalt and cold mix, until the weather warms up and permanent fixes can be done.

“Those are temporary solutions until we can go back in the summer,” Thibeault said.

“The more permanent fixes are done once the asphalt plant is open and we can use hot mix material … typically around the long weekend in May (when) those asphalt plants would open.”

Sanders said Aaron Taxi has a fleet of 70 vehicles that provide between 1,200 to 2,000 rides daily. He expects the cost of repairs related to potholes will reach well into the tens of thousands of dollars this season.

“Anything from a popped tire -- sometimes they don’t pop right away, you notice a bulge the tire needs to be changed,” Sanders said.

The structure of the sidewall has been compromised it’s not safe. Rims get dented. We are using a lot of newer vehicles (and) those rims could cost, from the dealer, anywhere from $600 to 1$,000 -- and then the cost of the tire and the installation."

In the past, he has made claims to the city for damage from potholes but they were all rejected.