Brockville, Ont. gets jump on pothole season with new equipment

While the mild weather has motorists swerving to avoid damage from potholes, the City of Brockville is using a new piece of equipment to patch up roads quicker.

With the lack of frost, pothole season is officially here, and city staff are already out patching roads weeks ahead of schedule.

"It's definitely early but you never know what you're going to get," said Brockville Public Works supervisor Yanick Beaudin. "I'll be honest, it's great for us to get a head start on a lot of this work that's coming."

Crews have also been using a new piece of equipment this year called an asphalt reclaimer. It's able to recycle old asphalt by heating it up to more than 300 degrees.

"Any project that we do, there is usually leftover asphalt of a tonne or two, and that gets dumped in a pile and we use that through the winter months when there is no asphalt available, and re-heat it and use it for the pothole season," Beaudin said.

"Right now we're filling potholes around the clock. This unit is out as much as it can be, given there's a cook time to it," he noted. "It takes about eight hours for it to fully cook up until it's in that soft stage where you can actually use and apply it."

The end product is easier to use and also a more permanent fix, instead of a temporary cold mix solution.

Old asphalt in the foreground with the new asphalt reclaimer device behind. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

"We are finding the repairs are holding a lot longer than cold mix, and it's actually saving us a little bit of money because we are reusing stock that we've already purchased through the summer months," Beaudin said.

"Cold mix is more of a temporary product, it would be something you would purchase at a local hardware store in those bags, that's what cold mix is," he added.

The patchwork is also good news for drivers. With road repairs lasting longer it means they could be saving thousands of dollars in vehicle repairs.

"Worse damage I would probably put you in, about $3,000 to $4,000, getting into some really heavy duty suspension work," said Brockville Oil and Tire general manager Kris Williamson.

He says vehicles have already come into his shop with pothole damage.

"In February, of all things, we are definitely seeing a whole lot of tires coming in," he said. "You hit a pothole and you can throw out a strut, you could throw out stabilizer links, sway bars, things that keep you planted on the road."

Right now, Williamson noted that a free alignment comes standard with every oil change, so drivers can know if damage is being caused to their vehicle.

"I've seen cars come through one oil change, alignment was great, the next one it's out," Williamson said. "The best advice, other than trying to stay away from the potholes, is don't slam on the brakes. That just does more suspension issues for you because then you are compressing everything and once you hit that bump, it's just like going over the train tracks."

The city says they are patching between 40 and 80 potholes a day, and if driver notices potholes on their street, they can be reported on the city website.

A pothole on Oxford Avenue in Brockville, Ont. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

Crews are also out inspecting roads regularly.

"The busy roads, we're on it twice a week, and bus routes once a week all the way down to residentials, we're in there once a month," Beaudin said.

"We're checking for potholes and we're filling them within the timeline, so a main road would have to be filled within four days of the time we find it."

Beaudin is also reminding drivers to use caution if they see this new pothole patcher and crew around town.

"If you see flashing light or any orange, just give the operation some space and go around them slowly. They are doing a job and trying to keep everyone safe," he said.

"As far as potholes go, if you are driving down the road and you see a water puddle don't trust it. The chances are it could be a pothole."