Hamilton has patched 14,000 asphalt craters this year — but drivers are still playing ‘dodge the pothole’
It's that time of winter when Hamilton gets its very own Olympic-style event: the pothole slalom.
Nick Barone has expertly dodged craters on the asphalt slopes of the Kenilworth Access for a couple of weeks - so far, without damage to his aptly named Dodge Avenger.
It's really like a crazy winter (ski) sport, a game of dodge the pothole," said the 23-year-old, who gingerly drives the downhill course each day before deking through the Barton Street gauntlet to reach his job at the Centre on Barton.
It seems extra bad this year - I've seen a couple of really huge (potholes), like two feet across and super deep. You can't risk driving over that."
The back end of winter is always a bumpy ride for motorists.
But a month of extreme weather - blizzards, deep freezes and thaws - is giving Hamilton more of a challenge" in keeping up with potholes, said Peter Sniuolis, acting manager of roadway maintenance.
Sniuolis said city crews have so far patched about 14,000 potholes this year, the vast majority within the last month. He couldn't immediately say how that tally ranks against past winters.
But by comparison, the city was dispatched to patch at about 11,200 sites," which could mean locations with more than one pothole, by the end of February in 2018. (That two-month span also saw a record number of legal claims against the city.)
That year - which also featured a municipal election - council voted to spend an extra $20 million on emergency shave and paves" to deal with an apparent bumper crop of pothole complaints. So far, no comparable patching pitch has been made in 2022 budget meetings.
An overactive freeze-thaw cycle will always guarantee more asphalt angst leading into spring, Sniuolis noted.
But a massive snow dump in January followed by regular, smaller snowfalls have also kept municipal plows busy - and snowplow blades can inadvertently pop up" asphalt patches, forcing the city to fix the same potholes repeatedly.
Sniuolis said the city does proactive" pothole patrols city-wide, but provincial minimum maintenance standards dictate how often those patrols must happen - so more often on busy, high-speed roadways and less frequently on rural or side streets.
If you're dodging the same pothole every day, the city urges you to report it at 905-546-CITY.
If your vehicle suspension comes out on the losing end of the pothole slalom, you can also try filing a compensation claim in writing with the city's Risk Management Services department.
But be warned: Hamilton normally only pays out about five to 10 per cent of pothole claims in any given year. If the city is meeting maintenance standards for a road, the existence of a pothole is not enough to justify a claim.
Online, city residents are creatively warning each other of perceived pothole minefields like Aberdeen Avenue, York Boulevard, and Burlington and Barton streets.
Damian Butler dodged a potential car-wrecking hole earlier this month and decided to write a tongue-in-cheek Twitter homage" to the unlucky drivers of several cars he saw pulled over on the side of the road.
My dearest Felicity, the long winter has taken its toll," he wrote. After narrowly escaping a stretch of Barton St East with life, limb and front wheel alignment intact I have been stranded at the bottom of this cavernous pothole on Nikola Tesla Blvd for what feels like weeks."
Matthew Van Dongen is a transportation and environment reporter at for The Spectator. mvandongen@thespec.com