By Greg Higgins

City warns drivers about potholes

Feb 16, 2017 | 4:19 PM

The unseasonably high temperatures is creating more potholes in the city and exposing hidden ones leading the city to warn drivers.

According to North Battelford city manager, Jim Puffalt, the type of weather we are experiencing is primetime for the creation of potholes. He said the “freeze thaw” cycle expands and contracts the soil beneath the concrete causing it to break down and create the nuisance drivers know as potholes.

“When you see a puddle on the street slow down because it could be concealing something underneath,” Puffalt said. “Another thing we ask people to do if you see a pothole is to let us [the city] know and we will put it on our list to get crews out to do what we can.”

Puffalt added it is tough for the city to effectively fix them at this time of the year. According to the city manager, hot mix asphalt is not being made yet so as a quick fix the city will use cold mix asphalt which, acts as a temporary Band-Aid.

Puffalt reminded drivers the city does not reimburse damages caused by potholes and reiterated the importance of cautious driving.

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The city manager said “hundreds of thousands of dollars” are budgeted for roads and believed North Battleford is winning the pothole battle.

“We are winning the battle but, that is only because we are replacing streets,” Puffalt said. “The biggest issue is that pavement only lasts about 20 years. There comes a time when you have to replace it and not just fix potholes. Our engineering team has done a great job of finding the worst streets and those are the ones we are trying to replace.”

Greg.higgins@jpbg.ca

On Twitter @realgreghiggins.