Adam: Potholes are back, and so are crumbling roads

Article content

If you drive a lot around town like me, you are certainly no stranger to the poor state of Ottawa roads. It doesn’t matter where you are in the city, and whether you are on arterial, collector or even local roads, the story is the same: Potholes and potholes everywhere. Sometimes deep gashes in the road.

Bank Street, Hunt Club Road, Heron Road, Bronson Avenue, Baseline Road, Alta Vista Drive, and more: there are sections that look like you are travelling in some poor corner of the world, not Canada’s capital. Carling Avenue is a classic, always has been. Patching on the road has been going on for years. Some of the potholes on the roads are so big and deep, you are lucky to get home without breaking an axle or, worse, jarring your back after a violent encounter with one of them.

Article content

So why are our roads so bad, and what is the city doing about them?

Bryden Denyes, the city’s area manager of roads, says the problem is fundamentally a function of nature. Ottawa’s harsh winters create “freeze-thaw cycles” that wreak havoc on the roads. This happens when water from melted snow and rain seeps into cracks in the road, and as the temperature drops, water in the cracks freezes and expands, pushing up on the road above and creating larger cracks. The weight of cars and trucks breaks the asphalt, creating the potholes we see everywhere on city roads.

He pointed out that so far this year — from the beginning of January to mid-March — the city has filled just under 15,000 potholes, compared with 43,000 over the same period last year. That’s because there have been fewer freeze-thaw cycles this year.

“The more freeze-thaw cycles we have, the more potholes you see,” Denyes says. “We are going to see a lot of potholes as we transition into the summer.” But he says the city is very much engaged in the task of filling them and is working flat out on the problem. “I want to reassure residents that we are working, we are looking for potholes, and we are working to fix those potholes.”

Article content

Denyes says the city has 20 crews daytime and 10 at night working ’round the clock. As well, the city has acquired two machines called Python pothole patchers that can fill a pothole in two minutes, and is deploying them around the city. “We are doing our absolute best,” he says.

That may well be, but road problems in Ottawa are not just about this winter, and not all about freeze-thaw cycles. Residents have long complained about Ottawa’s poor roads and the neglect runs several years. A 2024 city auditor general’s report on the city’s road renewal program found that only 37 per cent of arterial roads, the backbone of the transportation system, were rated as good. A mere 25 per cent of collector roads were deemed good. Local roads fared a little better, with 47 per cent being rated good.

Part of the problem is that some roads, such as Bronson Avenue and Alta Vista Drive, have basically reached the end of their life cycles, and are begging for renewal. It is a sad indictment of the politicians who have run our road policies for years. Denyes says the problem with our roads is not about money, but it surely seems that way. For years, the city has not budgeted enough for roads, and it looks like we are now paying for the neglect. This year, the city budgeted $12.3 million for potholes, and $89.6 million for road rehabilitation and resurfacing. Ottawa has 6,000 kilometres of roadway, and it doesn’t seem as if the budget for roads is enough to keep up with the required maintenance and renewal.

So, you and I will continue to pay the price, driving on roads that are not fit for purpose. And there is no reason to think the ride will get smoother any time soon.

Mohammed Adam is an Ottawa journalist and commentator. Reach him at [email protected]

Article content