March 30, 2005

CAA expects another bad year

Streets of Montreal proliferated with potholes

MONTREAL

The potholes are blooming well before the tulips.

“It will, unfortunately, be another record year,’’ the Canadian Automobile Association’s Claire Roy says of the 800-plus potholes on Montreal’s streets and roads.

The CAA’s Quebec branch is running its annual Pothole Watch on its Web site, an unscientific survey that asks motorists to e-mail information about pothole locations in Montreal and all over the province.

CAA-Quebec keeps count and forwards the details to the appropriate authorities in hopes of getting them fixed.

In French, a pothole is called a nid de poule, literally a hen’s nest. CAA-Quebec defines a pothole as a bowl-shaped cavity deep enough to damage a vehicle or big enough to be a traffic hazard.

Drivers have other colourful descriptions of Montreal’s potholes, and the comments on CAA-Quebec’s Web site include:

— “There are potholes the size of craters.’’

— “Looks like Swiss cheese.’’

— “Two turkey-sized holes, one in front of the other.’’

— “I’m sure Baghdad has a smoother ride.’’

Some city streets require drivers to have major swerving skills to avoid landing in one, while other streets have potholes so deep you can see old cobblestones or tramway tracks.

Suburban Dorval is offering $6 to anyone who finds a pothole that’s as big as a chicken.

Roy said there are no statistics to indicate Montreal is the pothole capital of Canada, but added “you don’t need to be a specialist’’ to see they’re everywhere.

“There’s no road in Montreal that’s in perfect condition,’’ she said.

CAA-Quebec expects this year to easily break its 2004 record of 1,189 reported potholes in the province.

“It’s totally unacceptable,’’ Roy said of the situation.

Roy doesn’t really blame winter’s freeze-and-thaw cycles for the problem.

“Winter is not big news. The real thing is maintenance. The preventive work is not being done.’’

She holds all levels of government responsible for not putting enough money into road maintenance. She said potholes cause $700 million in damages annually to Quebecers’ cars.

“It’s really at a point of no return. It’s a question of road safety.’’

Taxi driver Willio Calixte, rubbing his tummy for emphasis, said all the bumpiness “makes me sick.’’

“It’s worse than last year,’’ Calixte said as he waited for a fare in Old Montreal. “The holes are very big. There’s not enough maintenance by the city.’’

He said his passengers also feel the shock.

“When we hit one, the passengers say: ‘Ow.’”

Fearful of losing his taxi’s hubcaps, which cost about $120 each to replace, Calixte has tied them to the wheelrims so they don’t fall off when he hits a pothole.

City official Claude Dauphin acknowledged that filling the holes isn’t a final solution. City crews have been out fixing some potholes.

“As soon as it’s going to be warm in April, at the end of April, then we’re going to start again just like last year,’’ he said recently of the effort to fix potholes. “We have another $30 million to invest.’’

Dauphin, president of the city’s transit corporation, said Montreal needs at least $3 billion over 10 years to permanently fix the problem. He hopes some of the gas tax money promised by Ottawa will be put toward road repair.

The Canadian Press

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