London City streets going to pot(holes)
This article was taken from London Community News website, article written by Sean Meyer
Rick McMullin has been in the auto repair business for more than two decades and has never seen a time where so much damage was being caused, not on city roads, but rather by the potholes in them.
McMullin, who opened Ricky Ratchets Auto Repair in 1993, said the damage being brought into his shop is “worse than I have ever seen” and is causing him to express concerns around the state of city roads.
“I am becoming an even better defensive driver because I’m not just looking for objects on the roads, cars and people, but you have to change lanes to get out of where the worst potholes are,” McMullin said. “In years gone by, you would hit the train tracks a little harder, you’d hit the potholes a little harder, but now it is tearing open your wallet too.”
McMullin said the kind of damage he and his staff are seeing — and they are averaging “two or three vehicles a week” into the shop — has resulted in significant repair costs. He has seen a variety of damage, including upper strut mounts torn right out of cars, lower control arms split in two, shocks that were “two or three years old” that have been split in half, rims that are bent, and tires that have blow out belts.
“It is unbelievable what we are seeing. The tearing of the metal on the control arms and upper strut mounts that are torn right out, it is worse than I have ever seen,” McMullin said. “Just the other day, a fellow came in to get new struts put on. When the strut broke, the wheel came off, it ripped his drive shaft out and he needed over $1,200 in work done.”
To address the situation, the City of London issued a warning last week around the abundance of potholes and how conditions were “perfect” for their formation. Potholes begin to develop on streets when temperatures begin to hover around 0C. Spring-like temperatures warm the cold pavement during the day, snow melts and water seeps into the pavement. That moisture then freezes during the night before thawing the next day.
That cycle weakens the pavement and creates voids when traffic loosens the pavement and it crumbles and pops out.
John Parsons, division manager transportation and roadside operations, said city crews are “actively” out fixing potholes. When looking at the seasonal costs and winter pothole maintenance, Parsons said the city’s bill has averaged $500,000 the past five years.
Typically during the winter, Parsons said, there would be some warming spells during January and February and city crews would be out patching potholes. That wasn’t the case in 2014.
“We didn’t get a lot of opportunity to do that because of all the freezing temperatures where we had days of -27C and such,” Parsons said.
On any given day through the week, Parsons said the city has “anywhere from 15 to 20 trucks” out patching potholes, patrolling for them and patching them.
There are two ways for the city to pinpoint potholes — dedicated road patrollers are out identifying them and reporting back or the public is contacting the city to let them know what the worst locations are.
On March 19 and 20, for example, Parsons said the city received 71 and 21 calls respectively. With 3,650 lane kilometres of road, there is a lot of pavement in the city for staff to keep an eye on.
And while each street is potentially at risk of potholes, the main roads are where Parsons said the majority is to be found.
“You see potholes on the main routes, you don’t see as many on local streets,” Parsons said. “Once the base is compromised, heavy traffic of buses, trucks, and constant large volumes of traffic are pounding away on those main streets, which is where you are seeing more pothole activity.”
McMullin said the damage these potholes are causing isn’t always obvious. After all, drivers don’t typically head to the nearest garage after hitting a pothole. In many cases, the damage won’t be noticed until people are getting their winter tires swapped out.
For those who ride all-season tires, or just want to be sure everything is OK underneath their vehicle, McMullin recommends making an appointment at a general repair garage.
“Avoid the potholes where you can, but when you get servicing; get a qualified pair of eyes under your car,” McMullin said. “If you are hearing a sound you haven’t heard before, get in and get things looked at. We are literally seeing things fall off people’s cars.”
If anyone sees a pothole, they are encouraged to contact the city by either calling 519-661-4570 or sending an email to es@london.ca. Priority is given to repairing potholes located on the busiest streets. All reported potholes are to be repaired, per provincial standards, in between four and 30 days.
