There are definitely a lot of potholes dotting Barrie roads right now, but those in the know at city hall say they are being taken care of despite the complaints from residents.
During last fall's municipal election, one of the main concerns shared by nearly every ward was road repair and maintenance.
In 2018, the City of Barrie fixed 17,500 potholes. Already this year, as of Jan. 1, workers has repaired 3,223.
The pothole situation in Barrie came into the spotlight more than usual recently with a weekend Facebook post by Mayor Jeff Lehman that lent humour to his many critics on the issue.
“Gets up. Opens phone.
Looks at Facebook - sees long threads slamming him for road damage due to more freeze-thaw cycles this winter.
Notes extensive climate change denying posts from same critics.
Closes phone. Finds solace in breakfast cereal.”
The post had 137 comments from people having fun with it and some continuing to blame the city for the lack of work put into the pothole issue.
David Friary, the city's director of roads, park and fleet, told BarrieToday that despite the complaints of residents, pothole maintenance is actually down since 2017.
“In 2018, we had 800 less needed repairs than we did in 2017, which is a step in the right direction,” he said earlier today. “Whether that was due to weather not being as much of the problem or that we were able to correct many of the main problem areas is hard to tell, but the work is getting done.”
Potholes are created when cracks in the road get water inside of them. When that water freezes, it expands and further cracks and/or lifts the pavement.
It is hard to tell exactly how much money is being spent on pothole repairs, since they are lumped into a $1.9-million budget for repairs to anything city infrastructure needs.
Much like with snow removal, Friary said that the city is able to keep accurate check on what is being done through an app, which helps shoot down any false claims that nothing is being done.
“We see the social-media posts that during the winter someone hasn’t seen a snow plow for days, but through our app we are able to show that one has been through more recently than that," he said. "It helps us on our end to show we are taking care of the city and its people.
“It is the same with the potholes, as road patrol go around finding anything needed fixing, including lights and other infrastructure," Friary added. "But with the potholes, we encourage residents to call in, email or use the Ping Street app to let us know exactly where the problem is. Our crews go out with our collector app and find the pothole, which is indicated by a blue light on the screen, and after repairing it they put in that they did and the light turns red so as to let the systems know it has been fixed.”
Friary admits that Barrie sees a lot of potholes during the colder months, as the asphalt companies around here are closed until May, but the use of Cold Patch helps get them through the really tough areas until the potholes can be properly fixed.
“We do know that folks get frustrated with some depressions and potholes in the roads, but we do all we can once given the info by residents to fix the areas with the Cold Patch product, which is a temporary but reliable solution, until the asphalt company opens and we can attempt to fix the most problematic areas right away," he said.
The most problematic spots are detected through the app used by the city and even that is down to an exact science for the city.
“I can say that Leacock Drive in 2018 had 559 pothole repairs and since we are able to see it is such problem area, we are scheduled to repair the street this year,” Friary said.
“It is important for the community to understand that with these repairs, not all of the 559 are different depressions or potholes," he added. "It can often be the multiple repair of the same hole. So, Leacock wouldn’t have had 559 different potholes, just repairs done 559 times.”
And for those who think the city needs to pay up when they hit a pothole and damage their car, think again.
“We very rarely pay out for damages to a vehicle,” said Friary. “There is a method for people to follow and if they go to the City of Barrie website and type in potholes in the search engine, all the information is there.
"The issue is the person has to prove that the city was negligent, and again because of the app and technology we have, it can easily be proven that we have taken care of a pothole in due time from someone reporting it, in which case the city is not negligent," he added.
"Of course, if somehow, we haven’t taken care of a reported area or for some reason didn’t put the correction in the system, then we certainly would have to assist with vehicle repair.”
