Potholes: they’re big, they’re back and they’re here to stay

MIRIAM HILL

They’re back. With the weather warming and the snow beginning to melt they become visible. If you’re driving anywhere in the territory’s capital you can definitely feel them — the potholes. They are back.

Each spring, as the temperatures climb closer to the zero mark, drivers have to slow down and pick their paths over the city’s pockmarked roads to avoid damaging their vehicle or themselves.

Jim Grittner, Iqaluit’s director of public works, said the situation happens every year and will continue until the roads are rebuilt.

“The road base themselves have not been rebuilt in probably 20 years,” he said. “They broke down and we’ve never had them rebuilt. The ones being paved are being rebuilt but the rest are just left.”

City crews are trying to keep up with the damage, patching as they go.

“We’re kind of in crisis management on roads right now,” he said.

Specific areas tend to be worse than others. Ring Road in front of the NorthwesTel building, for example, had an enormous hole patched last weekend and an area near the hospital on the road to Apex is always a concern because of run-off.

“We try and make ditches and you’ve probably seen us out and about [moving] snow right now. We’re trying to avoid some of this,” he said.

William Norris, a Pai-Pa taxi driver, confirmed the roads near the hospital have been terrible, as they have been in front of houses in the 400-area and near the Snack.

“It’s a problem and it’s an expense,” he said, although he hasn’t had to have repairs done to his vehicle yet.

Last Saturday night, he said, his company refused to drop people off behind the Tulugak Bar because the potholes were so bad.

“It’s a hazard at night because it’s darker and wet,” he said.

Grittner knows the complaints all too well, but he said the city is doing all it can.

“Just filling in the potholes is no good because it just bounces back out — vehicles go over and bang, bang, bang,” he said. “You’ve got to wait until you can actually break up the frozen sand and snow there. The equipment we have just cannot break that up.”

A few warm-weather days last week exposed the potholes, but then the mercury dropped and the temperatures have been bouncing up and down. Grittner said the initial thaw seemed to come earlier this year, but normally the roads are back to normal in about two weeks. Last year was an exception as a municipal labour dispute hampered road repairs.

The heavy traffic on the streets isn’t helping the issue, though, he said.

“We’ve got to remember these roads were built here when there was minimal traffic in town,” Grittner said. “Over the last 10 years the cars have just multiplied and multiplied here dramatically and the roads were never built to handle what’s on them.”

He said the city is studying how much its infrastructure needs will cost, including rebuilding the roads.

“Getting money is the big thing. We would all like to have brand new roads and paved roads, but the money just isn’t there,” he said. “It’s an old topic — the money not being there but in this day and age, it’s true.”

In the meantime, Iqaluit drivers will have to just sit back and be patient — or leave the car at home.