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Potholes popping up in Penticton

Major pothole repairs expected to take about two weeks
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Pothole patching in Penticton has begun. File photo

If you are thinking potholes are worse than ever this year, you’re not alone.

“We’re seeing a lot more potholes than I can recall. There’s a lot more, and they’re bigger,” said Len Robson, Penticton’s public works manager, who says now that hot asphalt is available for patching, spring repair work has begun.

“We’re flying at it, the crew has been out all week,” said Chapman, adding that there are a number of factors causing the greater number of potholes.

“Certainly the winter, the freeze-thaw cycles come into play. But it is also road condition as well,” said Chapman. “The city does budget for recapping. I know they have some money in the budget for this year. “

Chapman isn’t sure how long the pothole repair cycle will take.

“I would suggest that we should be getting a reasonable handle on the big stuff within the next week or two,” he said. “There are lots of bigger patches to do. As well as doing potholes, we are doing construction repairs that happened over the winter, service installs, that sort of thing.”

The road patching is done by a crew on contract through Peters Bros. Construction.

“We do all the prep for them and then they come in and lay the asphalt down. There is lots of work to be done right now and we are busy at it,” said Chapman.

Along with potholes, the winter weather took a toll on road lines.

“You’ll notice a lot of the paint has worn off quite aggressively this year, and that is due to the heavy sand that had to be put on the roads to deal with our winter conditions,” said Chapman. “We want to get things cleaned up as best we can first, and then we get the line painters in to do their work.”

The city’s overall budget for asphalt patching is $127,000, broken down into $97,000 for major repairs, and $30,000 for repair problems like dips where the road has settled and other defects.

“We can actually lay asphalt over top of that to get a smoother surface,” Chapman said.


Steve Kidd
Senior reporter, Penticton Western News
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