Comments on: Toronto’s Potholes: Yeah, But… No

By: The Last, I Promise, Toronto Pothole Post | This. That. No Other.

The Last, I Promise, Toronto Pothole Post | This. That. No Other. — Wed, 20 May 2009 22:45:23 +0000

[...] how I was telling you about the incompetent pothole repair crews: On the two most recent occasions I’ve witnessed [...]

By: Sami

Sami — Mon, 11 May 2009 02:23:32 +0000

Huh. Interesting.

Is this just crazy talk, or would it work out a lot cheaper in the medium-to-long-term if you did the repairs properly?

Perth doesn’t have the kind of temperature cycle Toronto does, not by a mile, so I grant that our roads are probably a lot easier to build for, but potholes on major roads just don’t happen here. When the asphalt on a road cracks, the cracks are sealed with black goo that hardens (tar? bitumen? I have no idea) until the road is resurfaced (which happens every few years or decades, depending on how much traffic the road gets). People complain about the fact that our roads are a bit bumpy in places, but the surfaces themselves are always fine.

It just seems like it shouldn’t be that hard.

By: paulintoronto

paulintoronto — Fri, 08 May 2009 11:16:45 +0000

This was illuminating. I’ve long wondered why the city does temporary repairs to potholes, rather than just fixing them, but I assumed that the temporary fillings were emergency ones intended to keep traffic moving until the real crews could fix the holes. Now you tell me that what I thought were “temporary repairs” are actually the permanent repairs? Things are even worse than I realized.

By: wheeliecrone

wheeliecrone — Fri, 08 May 2009 06:30:49 +0000

As bad as a pothole problem may be for cars and pedestrians, it is difficult to describe how bad it is for someone using a wheelchair. It can be bad enough to tip a person out of his or her chair – and if you use a seatbelt on your chair, when you are tossed out of the chair, the chair follows and falls on top of you. When you consider that motorised chairs often weigh 160 pounds or more, that is no joke.
When you already have paralysis and osteoporosis, what you need is a nice flip into the street and your wheelchair falling on top of you – fun in Toronto!

By: Cb

Cb — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:03:33 +0000

Any man who uses the term “spall” in a complete sentence… Woof!!!

By: snotty

snotty — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:07:28 +0000

So you must be the only gay in the village who understands asphalt. If the past way of doing things is a failure, turn it over to the private sector and have public money spent monitoring the asphalt quality.