Ottawa will spend millions of dollars to fill potholes in 2024

A person stands over a pothole in Ottawa, Ont. (Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash)

The city of Ottawa will spend an extra $700,000 to fill potholes on roads across the city next year, as crews continue to patch tens of thousands of potholes every year.

The 2024 budget includes increasing the budget for filling potholes to $11.4 million next year, up from $10.7 this year and $9.2 million in 2019.

The new funding comes as the city sees an increase in potholes on roads each year.

"Draft budget 2024 provides staff with a budget to work diligently to prevent and fill as many potholes as possible," staff say in the budget.

According to the budget document, staff have filled 222,256 potholes so far in 2023, compared to 262,843 in 2022 and 165,879 potholes in 2021.

Earlier this year, the city showed off a tool to help fill potholes faster. The Python 5000 can fill a pothole in under two minutes, with a maximum of nearly 200 potholes filled on one load of asphalt.

The city's 2024 budget also includes $76.5 million for road resurfacing next year. Road resurfacing projects for 2024 include:

Snow clearing operations

The city of Ottawa will be spending millions of dollars to clear the snow off roads and sidewalks in 2024.

The draft budget says the city will spend $92.5 million for winter operations in 2024, including $13.4 million for sidewalk and pathway clearing. The city is increasing the winter operations budget by $7 million.

Staff are projecting a $19.7 million deficit in winter operations this year due to increased snow and freezing rain in the January to April period.