The unpredictable swings between warm weather, and freezing temperatures are bringing the fifth New Brunswick season, that is pothole season, earlier than usual to the City of Moncton.
Director of Public Works Don Morehouse says this is a particularly challenging season because of the extreme fluctuations in temperature, but crews are still out daily doing repairs.
“We’ve been using a, what we call a supertube cold patch mixture which is a product you can put in cold,” says Morehouse. “And we also have a small recycling heating system that we put in old asphalt, and we try to [use] those on larger repairs or on areas that have a higher traffic area.”
He says they are highly dependent on the weather conditions for their ability to make effective repairs.
“Sometimes the way the water’s draining on a road surface, it can actually wash out a temporary patch we put in, so when crews go back out they have to try to get the water out the best they can and put their mixes in,” says Morehouse. “But water does not help us.”
Morehouse highlights the wild swings in temperature as a contributing factor towards the earlier pothole season this year, however, he says, in some ways, the weather has been helpful, since they haven’t had to spend as much money as usual on snow removal.
“That gives us a little bit of extra funding to reallocate to another activity such as potholes,” says Morehouse. “So overall, from a budget point of view that’s not really a concern at this point in time, we’re gonna still do what we have to do to mitigate risks to the motorists.”
Morehouse says it helps them identify problem areas when people report potholes to the City, either through the Public Works dispatch line, at 506.859.2643, or online.
