Winter Gone to Pot ... Holes

Strap on your seatbelt, start up the car, and get ready for a bumpy ride.

Any driver would know -- and now the city has confirmed it -- this winter has been one of the worst for potholes.

It's "because of the amount of rain and the amount of moisture," said Dan O'Keefe, area manager for the City of Ottawa.

Asphalt is laid on roads in layers and when water gets in between the layers and freezes, it cracks the cold asphalt and causes it to break, O'Keefe explained.

City crews are working feverishly to fill them up.

Night crews have been added to help combat the growing number of potholes. The city also hired two contract crews for further assistance.

TRUCK DAMAGE

King Edward Ave. and Rideau St. are the big problem areas, O'Keefe said, because of the high number of heavy trucks that use these roadways.

The city has already issued half-load restrictions for trucks, rules which typically don't come into effect until the spring.

City streets are deteriorating and although city crews will revisit the potholes in the summer with hot asphalt, O'Keefe said the roads will eventually need to be reconstructed or repaved.

OttawaSun