Warmer weather good for pothole repairs, city says

The city may have gone through a blast of winter but city officials say the warmer winter has made it easier for crews to repair roads.

This time of year is always big for potholes but Hector Moreno, the city’s manager of road operations, said conditions have made for a favourable work environment.

“We haven’t had that much winter and ice to deal with so our crews have been diligent on a daily basis,” Moreno explained. “We’ve done approximately 22,000 pot holes a year to date at the cost of about half a million dollars.”

By this time last year the city had repaired 32,000 potholes at a cost of about $600,000.

Moreno said road improvement efforts made last year, including the repaving of some of the city’s high complaint streets such as Finch Avenue and Wilson Road, have lead to fewer complaints.

“We’ve received about 800 complaints compared to about 2,000 complaints last year for the same period,” he said.

But some drivers are still paying the price of the city’s crumbling roads.

Scott Hollinshead said a massive pothole on the Gardiner Expressway caused over $1,000 in damages to his car when the impact bent two of his car’s wheels.

“My passenger side really bottomed out and now I have two bad wheels and a $1,700 estimate from a dealer,” he explained.

Hollinshead said he pulled over at the Jamieson Road exit where he saw two other drivers dealing with flat tires caused by the pothole.

He then made a post about his experience on Reddit where another driver posted a video of a similar experience on the exact same day.

Hollinshead said he plans tomake a claim for the damage to the city.

However, if the city fixes the pothole within five days of the complaint, they won’t take responsibility for the damage.

Data obtained exclusively by CityNews shows that, in 2014 the city paid out $953,000 in pothole claims but they still have $2.5 million worth of claims to process. Only 27 per cent have been denied so far in 2014.

The average claim paid out in 2014 was $1,450.

For comparison’s sake, the city paid out $418,000 in 2013, $286,000 in 2010 and $993,000 in 2011.

So far this year, drivers have claimed $62,000 worth of damage from potholes. The city has yet to pay out any money in these claims.

Transportation Services Division

Roadway Operations – Pothole Claims

January 28, 2015

 

 

 

 

Calendar

Year

 

 

Total Number of all Transportation

Claims

 

 

Number of

Pothole

Claims

 

 

 

 

% of Total

Financial Information on

Pothole Claims

ONLY

 

 

Paid

$000
*

Outstanding

$000
*

Total Incurred

$000
*

Average Claim Value

$000

Claims

Denied

% of Total

Denied

2009

2,351

1,152

49%

745

34

780

0.67

1,070

93%

2010

1,388

276

20%

286

447

733

2.65

245

89%

2011

2,073

918

44%

993

1,343

2.336

2.54

664

72%

2012

1,039

266

26%

410

1,659

2,070

7.78

148

56%

2013

2,193

869

40%

418

1,045

1,463

1.68

430

50%

2014

3,839

2,398

62%

953

2,535

3,488

1.45

650

27%

2015

99

59

60%

0

62

62

1.67

0

0%

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