Fewer potholes than usual in St. John’s
Less traffic, mild winter has meant fewer potholes in St. John’s
It's the time of year when drivers in the capital city usually need to swerve or brake quickly to avoid hitting huge craters in the road — ones so deep they can destroy tires and rims.
But there's a lot less dodging going on this spring.
Thanks to a milder winter and fewer people on the road due to COVID-19 stay-athome restrictions, St. John's is reporting significantly fewer potholes in 2021.
And residents are noticing the difference.
“I can't get over it. There's hardly any around this year,” said Citywide cab driver Dennis Dooley, who has been driving a taxi for 40 years and also drives a school bus.
“I just went from Empire Avenue to Torbay Road and I didn't see one pothole. Last week, I think I might've seen one small one. I can't remember it being this good.
“I'm certainly glad of it because most of us care about our vehicles and hitting a bad pothole can be expensive.”
Kelly Denine, manager of City Tire and Auto Centre on Kenmount Road, said far fewer customers are reporting pothole tire damage.
“Other than that week we had all that rain, not a lot of people are in for emergency tire repairs,” she said.
“The sheer force and impact of your vehicle hitting a pothole can cause a lot of damage.
“I've seen it write off vehicles. It causes enough significant damage to the steering knuckle, strut and control arm of the vehicle.”
According to information provided by the City of St. John's, the 2021 roads division operating budget includes approximately $7.4 million for the maintenance of the city's 1,400 kilometres of paved roads and sidewalks. While it's difficult to put an exact cost on pothole repair each year, the city's engineering division's capital program for 2021 has budgeted approximately $2 million for grind and patch work.
St. John's Councillor-atlarge Sandy Hickman, who heads transportation issues for council, said pothole crews use recycled asphalt, a cold patch, for temporary fixes during colder months, while proper, more permanent repairs with hot asphalt are completed in late spring when the supply is available from asphalt plants.
Hickman says the biggest contributing factor to fewer potholes has been fewer vehicles on the road, while fewer construction projects has meant less heavy equipment on the roads in the last year.
“It all results in a lower amount of activity, less wear and tear on our roads and a lower economic level,” said Hickman, adding that streets are fully repaved when constant patching becomes ineffective.
“We would love to pave another 50 per cent more streets fully. We just don't have the money. It's a progressive thing. We do our very best to keep them in good shape.”
In an effort to find better ways of doing just that, the City of St. John's is participating in a collaborative project to improve asphalt used in pavement.
The project is being led by Memorial University's faculty of engineering and applied science, in partnership with city engineering staff from the department of engineering and mitacs, a national, not-for-profit organization working with universities, companies and governments to build partnerships that support industrial and social innovation.
“Part of our strategic plan is to build a balanced transportation network, and roads are a big part of it,” St. John's Mayor Danny Breen said, noting that testing has begun. “We want to extend the life of the pavement that we have, so finding new and innovative asphalt treatments makes economic sense.”
Kamal Hossain, an adjunct professor in Memorial University's department of civil engineering, is heading the research team for the three-year project to help find ways to improve the asphalt mixture used in pavement.
“I feel some frustration about this because our roads are really not good,” Hossain said during an interview earlier this week from Ottawa, where he is an assistant professor at Carleton University. “There are potholes, cracking and rutting in many areas.”
He said while studded tires are the main culprit on roads across the province, climate and temperature change are also factors. As a result, they are trying to find a better asphalt mixture that works here.
“Water is the enemy for asphalt pavement because the hydrogen atom alters the binding capacity of asphalt,” said Hossain, adding that roads are better in most other provinces. “On top of that, we have huge temperature fluctuations.
“So, you need to design a better mixture using better equipment.”
He said municipalities in this province still use a 1940s paving mixture design method called the Marshall Design System, which is no longer in use in many other provinces and in the United States. The Superpave mixture design and characterization system (1990 design system) is more scientific and based on results from a comprehensive research project by the United States government. For the mix design for highways, Ontario has used this advanced system since 2000, and, in the recent years, New Brunswick also started to use it.
He said most jurisdictions in Canada use Superpave system partly, just for selecting asphalt cement specification.
Hossain hopes the newly elected provincial government will take steps to regulate pavement specifications for municipalities across the province, as it will save money in the long run.
“As a stakeholder, the Department of Transportation needs to address this issue,” he said.
“The City of St. John's is really co-operating. I wish the provincial Department of Transportation was like that.”