Potholes are a nuisance the City of Toronto is well familiar with.

"Potholes are created when water penetrates the top layer of asphalt through cracks in the road and as the temperatures drops below zero degrees Celsius, the water freezes and expands which forces the asphalt surface up," the city explains. "As vehicles travel over the raised asphalt, it breaks and voids known as potholes are formed."

Extreme temperature swings, say from -30C to 18C, can make the problem worse. February is when the winter damage generally starts showing up, with the problem worse in late winter and early spring.

Over the last four years, the city says it has repaired an average 190,000 of them on an annual basis. And after this year's tough winter, it is expected that city staff will have to fix more of them than ever before.

On Friday, Councillor Glenn De Baeremaker said the city will likely end up fixing more than 300,000 potholes, and potentially as many as 400,000.

As of March 24, it has repaired  88,2888 potholes at a cost of about $1.8 million.

One year ago, it had fixed 49,688 potholes by this time.

The numbers

• the average cost of repairing a pothole is between $25 and $30. The bigger the pothole, the more expensive it is to fix
• in 2008, the city spent $6.9 million to fix some 277,000 potholes; in 2007, it spent $3.6 million on 145,000 potholes
• the city assigns three-person crews to fix potholes
• in busy periods, the city sends out 100 people (25-30 crews) to fix potholes each day, compared to only half that when demand for pothole repair is lowest
• these crews typically repair between 500 and 1,000 potholes each day

Repair strategy

• Potholes are repaired by first cleaning out their interior as best as possible.
• Crews then pour either hot or cold asphalt inside the void and rake and tap down the resulting fill, in order to ensure a smooth surface.
• Because potholes are formed by freezing water that causes cracks in asphalt surfaces, they most often develop when the temperature changes quickly during the winter months.
• Often times in February, the damage from potholes begins to be apparent. However, the late winter and early spring are the most likely times for potholes to develop.

How to call in a problem pothole

• Toronto residents can call the "pothole hotline" by dialing 416-599-9090, pushing #164 and leaving a message
• The city says it has a good record when it comes to getting potholes repaired within a reasonable period of time
• De Baeremaker said that the public should call in potholes as soon as they see them, so that they can be fixed before they get bigger and more costly to repair

Road construction

The building and rebuilding of Toronto's roads is a seemingly endless task. Here are the top 10 projects for 2009:

• Belfield Rd. (Kipling Ave. - Highway 27): Major road resurfacing
• Belfield Rd. (Highway 27  - Attwell Dr.): Major road reconstruction
• Martin Grove Rd. (Dixon Rd. - Belfield Rd.): Major road resurfacing
• Islington Ave. (Bloor St. W. - Prince George Dr.): Major road resurfacing
• The West Mall (The Queensway - Paxman Dr.): Major road reconstruction
• W R Allen Rd. (Ranee Ave. - Lawrence Ave. W.): Major road resurfacing
• Yonge St. (Eglinton Ave. W. Lawrence Ave.): Major road resurfacing
• Moore Ave. (Pottery Rd. - Welland Ave.): Major road teconstruction
• Church St. (Wellington St. E. - Carlton St.): TTC track replacement & road resurfacing
• Lawrence Ave. E. (Manse Rd. - Highland Creek Bridge) - Major road reconstruction & resurfacing
• Neilson Rd. (Finch Ave. E.-CPR): Major road resurfacing

Here is what the city has budgeted for road work:

• $139 million - State of good repair program
• $101 million - Other larger projects e.g., St. Clair Avenue, Dufferin Jog Elimination, Bloor Street, etc., traffic management projects (eg. traffic signal installations) and service improvements such as bike lanes
• $70 million  Other work including roadwork in conjunction with watermain and sewer replacement, public realm initiatives, etc.

Facts and figures about Toronto's roadways:

• Total kilometres of roads - 5,590
• Kilometres of expressways - 133
• Kilometres of main roads (arterials) - 1,095
• Kilometres of collector roads - 889
• Kilometres of local roads - 3,163
• Kilometres of laneways - 320
• Number of streets - 9,500
• 7,945 km of sidewalks
• 453 bridges
• 600 pedestrian crosswalks
• 2,009 traffic signals
• 4,100 bus shelters

Bikeway network:

• 95 kilometers of bike lanes
• 166 kilometers of bike trails (combined Transportation and Parks)
• 138 kilometers of bike routes

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