Seeing multiple potholes on a short stretch of road in the winter months is quite common.
“It’s no news to us. Some years are better than others,” said Duane Grado, public works manager. “It’s a pretty common thing … and it will occur every year.”
While the city hasn’t received too many calls regarding potholes, he said the majority of the calls the city’s received have been for the large number of potholes on the southbound lane of Fourth Avenue Bridge. He said there were more than 20 potholes and crews worked on Tuesday to fill the potholes.
“It’s relative to what happens more in the spring. It’s what we refer to as the freeze-thaw cycle,” said Grado, adding it is common across Canada. “The freezing action causes the pavement to pop out in the weak pavements of the pavement structure.”
He said in the spring a hot mix material with a regulated temperature of 300 degrees is used to fill potholes, but the asphalt plant the city buys asphalt from is not open in the winter.
In order to fix potholes in the colder months, he said crews must put down a cold mix material and compact it. The material is comprised of gravel, sand and oil that “will not solidify in the cold months.”
For more information, see Wednesday's edition of the Times-Herald.
