Montréal knows what a hard winter does to its streets. Last season, the city's new administration inherited what Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada calls "a maintenance deficit," with nearly 20,000 potholes waiting to be filled, according to Radio-Canada. When the snow melted, plenty of residents let the city know what they thought of the roads.
This year, Montréal is trying to get ahead of it. On October 15, the mayor announced a $15.8 million plan to modernize winter road maintenance, and potholes are a big part of it.
<figure class="ai-figure"><img src="https://zn2m7h2eiy0bs6ve.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/uploads/ai/montreal-plans-to-double-its-pothole-repair-capaci-8510e3a2d600.jpg" alt="Meltwater and ice widen a jagged pothole in thawing pavement." width="1280" height="720" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /><figcaption>AI-generated illustration.</figcaption></figure>
<h2>Doubling the patching fleet</h2>
The headline numbers are about snow. Most of the money, $13.3 million, will buy 43 new machines: 19 loaders, 13 snowblowers and 11 spreader trucks. Another $2.5 million goes to the boroughs, which share street maintenance with the city, for 16 more pieces of spreading equipment.
The pothole side is just as significant. Montréal has launched a tender for eight more mechanized pothole patching machines, which the city says will "double" its repair resources. Starting January 1, 2027, 24 hand-picked blue-collar workers will form eight new specialized pothole teams, organized into two hubs of expertise. According to Radio-Canada, that will let a total of 18 teams patch potholes at the same time across the network.
Since the administration took office, Martinez Ferrada said, crews have filled nearly 200,000 potholes.
"We feel we're ready for this winter," she told reporters, according to CBC News. "We're going to try a few things, maybe a few things won't work, but we're committed to the service of citizens."
<h2>Better information, better timing</h2>
The plan also leans on data. The city is setting up a weather monitoring cell to anticipate storms and deploy crews and equipment accordingly. It will test City Care, software already used in Longueuil and Laval that geolocates equipment and crews, and roll out a public platform called Go-Géo for tracking sidewalk salting and clearing in real time. Officials say AI will help track machinery, repairs and crew coordination.
Not everyone is convinced yet. Verdun borough mayor Céline-Audrey Beauregard told CBC she wasn't clear who would be making the calls on snow operations, or how much room boroughs would have to manoeuvre.
<h2>Why winter is pothole season</h2>
Montréal's focus makes sense. Winter is when potholes multiply. Water seeps into cracks, freezes and expands, then thaws and leaves a void under the surface. Traffic does the rest. In a climate that swings above and below freezing again and again, every weak spot gets tested.
Winter is also when repairs are hardest. Holes are wet, often full of meltwater or slush. And crews are juggling patching with snow operations, so every repair that has to be redone takes a team away from the next one.
<h2>Getting the material right</h2>
More machines and more trained crews give Montréal more chances to reach potholes quickly. The material that goes into each hole decides how many of those repairs are still there in March.
EZ STREET® Ambient® Asphalt is engineered for that kind of season. It works even in wet holes and holes holding water, bonds to asphalt and concrete, and is ready for traffic as soon as it's placed and compacted. There's no mixing and no tack coat, and because it can be stockpiled for months, yards can lay in supply before the first snow and keep it on the trucks through the thaw. It's thermally resilient, built to hold its integrity through the temperature swings that work repairs loose.
<h2>What other winter cities can borrow</h2>
<ul>
<li>Build patching capacity before you need it. Montréal's new teams start January 1, ahead of the worst of the freeze-thaw.</li>
<li>Train specialists. Dedicated pothole crews develop the know-how that makes repairs last.</li>
<li>Use weather data to time the work. Patching in the right window matters as much as patching fast.</li>
<li>Track what holds. The best measure of a winter program is how few holes need a second visit.</li>
</ul>
Montréal has set itself a clear test for the coming season. With more crews, better coordination and enduring repair materials like Ambient®, this winter's potholes don't have to become next spring's headlines. Learn more at <a href="https://ezstreetasphalt.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ezstreetasphalt.com</a>.
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Source notes: CBC News (Oct 15, 2026); Radio-Canada (Oct 15, 2026); TVA Nouvelles / Agence QMI (Oct 15, 2026).

Montréal will double its pothole patching resources with eight new machines and eight specialist crews starting January 1 to tackle winter damage before spring.

Montréal to Double Pothole Repair Capacity

Montréal Plans to Double Its Pothole Repair Capacity Before the Snow Flies

New York's state highway crews have passed a milestone few agencies ever reach. On October 22, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) has filled more than one million potholes on state roads so far this year, using more than 39,500 tons of asphalt. The governor marked the occasion by joining a crew near the Meadowbrook Parkway in Hempstead, on Long Island, to fill the millionth hole herself.
"Last winter took a heavy toll on our roads," Hochul said, crediting highway crews who "stepped up to the challenge."
<figure class="ai-figure"><img src="https://zn2m7h2eiy0bs6ve.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/uploads/ai/new-york-state-fills-its-one-millionth-pothole-of--d8257dce1675.jpg" alt="A worker prepares to fill a water-filled pothole after a thaw." width="1280" height="720" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /><figcaption>AI-generated illustration.</figcaption></figure>
<h2>A statewide effort, region by region</h2>
Every part of the state contributed. According to the governor's office, the North Country led with 178,000 potholes filled, followed by Long Island at 156,000, the Hudson Valley at 150,000 and the Southern Tier at 121,000. The push started in earnest in April, when crews filled more than 250,000 potholes in a single month.
Patching ran alongside the most ambitious resurfacing season in NYSDOT's history. The state invested more than $600 million in over 180 extra paving projects, covering almost 2,150 lane miles, for a total of more than 4,000 lane miles of renewed pavement, including stretches of the Adirondack Northway and Interstate 81.
<h2>Why the count keeps climbing</h2>
The state's own explanation of potholes is a good reminder of why the number gets so big. Water gets into the pavement through cracks. When it freezes, it expands and lifts the surface. When it thaws, the surface drops back, leaving the material weaker. Each freeze-thaw cycle repeats the damage, and heavy traffic finishes the job.
In a state with long winters and countless swings around the freezing mark, that cycle never really stops. Which means the real question for winter isn't only how many holes crews can fill, but how many of those repairs are still in place when the thaw comes.
<h2>Where the material makes the difference</h2>
A million repairs is a huge amount of labor. Every patch that fails and has to be redone takes a crew back to the same spot, often next to high-speed traffic.
EZ STREET® Ambient® Asphalt is engineered for exactly the conditions New York's crews describe. It goes into wet holes and holes holding water, bonds to both asphalt and concrete, and is ready for traffic as soon as it's placed and compacted, with no mixing and no tack coat. It's thermally resilient, built to hold together through the temperature swings that pop lesser repairs loose, and it can be stockpiled for months, so yards can be stocked before the first storm.
<h2>Getting ready for the next winter</h2>
<ul>
<li>Stock up early. Having enduring repair material on hand before the first freeze keeps crews moving.</li>
<li>Seal cracks while you can. Keeping water out is the cheapest pothole prevention there is.</li>
<li>Measure repeat visits. The best patching programs track how few holes need a second fix.</li>
</ul>
New York has shown what a sustained push can do. With performance-proven materials like Ambient®, next year's count can reflect new damage, not old repairs. Learn more at <a href="https://ezstreetasphalt.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ezstreetasphalt.com</a>.
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Source notes: New York State Governor's Office (October 22, 2026).

New York state highway crews have filled more than one million potholes so far in 2026 using 39,500 tons of asphalt.

New York Fills One Millionth Pothole of 2026

New York State Fills Its One Millionth Pothole of 2026

Every road crew knows the problem. You fix a pothole, the rain comes back, and the hole you just filled starts to come apart. In Nelson Mandela Bay, on South Africa's Eastern Cape coast, that cycle is shaping one of the country's busiest municipal repair drives.
The metro's "Fill Up the Bay" campaign has repaired 5,944 potholes since it launched in August 2026, according to SAnews. Executive Mayor Babalwa Lobishe launched the drive in the Perseverance Industrial Area, and it has since expanded to areas including Veeplaas and Ward 30, where roads were badly damaged by flooding and long maintenance backlogs. The municipality has set aside R61 million for road maintenance, with R30 million ring-fenced for faster pothole repairs.
<figure class="ai-figure"><img src="https://zn2m7h2eiy0bs6ve.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/uploads/ai/nelson-mandela-bay-passes-5-900-pothole-repairs-as-1140675fcb30.jpg" alt="Stormwater flows into a cleared roadside drain beside cracked pavement." width="1280" height="720" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /><figcaption>AI-generated illustration.</figcaption></figure>
<h2>When the weather won't cooperate</h2>
The mayor was candid about what's slowing things down. Persistent rain has affected both the pace and the quality of the work. Contractors have sometimes had to stop in some areas and wait for surfaces to dry, and heavy downpours have damaged some newly laid asphalt.
That's an honest admission, and it's one every wet-climate agency will recognise. Water is the main enemy of a pothole repair. It gets under the edges, weakens the bond with the old pavement and washes out fines before the patch has had a chance to settle. A repair that needs a dry hole and a dry week is a repair that waits, and a hole that waits keeps growing.
<h2>Fix the water, then fix the road</h2>
The most interesting part of the campaign isn't the pothole count. It's the drains.
Over the past three months, 400 participants in South Africa's Expanded Public Works Programme have worked alongside municipal teams to clear 4,700 stormwater drains, remove debris from 3.4 kilometres of stormwater canals and complete a kilometre of jet-vac cleaning. Contractors must also hire at least three local residents in every ward where they work.
Lobishe put it plainly: "Fixing potholes without concurrently addressing stormwater drainage and canals would be an exercise in futility. A major root cause of our road damage is stormwater running across the tarmac instead of being channelled through functional drains and canals."
She's right. Drainage is the single best long-term pothole prevention tool most cities have. Clear drains mean less standing water, less water working into cracks and fewer new holes after every storm.
<h2>Where material choice comes in</h2>
Drainage handles the cause. Crews still have to deal with the potholes that are already there, often in the rain and often on roads that can't be closed for long. That's where the repair material makes a real difference.
EZ STREET® Ambient® Asphalt is engineered for exactly those conditions. It works even in holes that are wet or holding water, bonds to asphalt and concrete, and is ready for traffic as soon as it's placed and compacted. There's no mixing and no tack coat, and it can be stockpiled for months, so crews can keep material on hand and get to a defect between showers instead of waiting for a dry spell.
<h2>Lessons for any wet-season program</h2>
Nelson Mandela Bay's approach offers a useful model for cities, campuses and property managers heading into their own rainy or freeze-thaw season:
<ul>
<li>Clear drains before the storms. Every blocked gully is a pothole waiting to happen.</li>
<li>Target flood-damaged roads early. Water-weakened pavement fails fastest.</li>
<li>Plan for wet repairs. If your material can't handle a damp hole, your schedule depends on the forecast.</li>
<li>Count what lasts. The number that matters is how many repairs are still intact after the next big downpour.</li>
</ul>
Weather will always set the terms for road crews. Pairing good drainage with thermally resilient, performance-proven repair materials like Ambient® helps make sure the next storm doesn't undo the last month's work. Learn more at <a href="https://ezstreetasphalt.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ezstreetasphalt.com</a>.
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Source notes: SAnews (Oct 12, 2026).

Persistent rain in Nelson Mandela Bay has slowed pothole repairs but the metro has fixed 5,944 holes and cleared 4,700 drains since August 2026 to protect roads.

Nelson Mandela Bay Repairs 5,944 Potholes

Nelson Mandela Bay Passes 5,900 Pothole Repairs as Rain Tests Every Patch

The first frosts haven't settled in across northern England yet, but road teams are already playing defence.
On October 6, Lancashire County Council set out how it is preparing its network for winter after what it called "a challenging period in early 2026." Backed by a further £10 million approved by cabinet last month, total investment in Lancashire's roads for 2026/27 now stands at £88.9 million. Across the Pennines in South Yorkshire, Barnsley Council is weighing an extra £10 million of its own, with a stated aim of reducing repeated temporary pothole fixes.
<figure class="ai-figure"><img src="https://zn2m7h2eiy0bs6ve.public.blob.vercel-storage.com/uploads/ai/lancashire-and-barnsley-head-into-winter-chasing-f-9904eff750a9.jpg" alt="Ice forms around a wet asphalt patch beside material prepared for repair." width="1280" height="720" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /><figcaption>AI-generated illustration.</figcaption></figure>
Two councils, one message: the most affordable pothole repair is the one you only have to do once.
<h2>Lessons from a rough start to the year</h2>
Lancashire says it used lessons from early 2026 to put "a greater emphasis on preventative maintenance and longer-lasting repairs designed to improve the resilience of the road network." The numbers are substantial. Over the last 12 months, highways teams completed more than 100,000 pothole repairs. Since April, they have resurfaced more than 361,000 square metres and applied over 1.16 million square metres of surface dressing. Crews have also cleaned 74,153 gullies to help the network cope with heavy rain.
The council's performance figures deserve a closer look. It reports that 94.56% of its A, B and C roads are in good or fair condition and that 80.90% of defect repairs were completed on time. Most interesting for anyone who manages pavement, 83.71% of defect repairs were completed as a first-time fix. All three measures beat the council's targets.
County Councillor Warren Goldsworthy, cabinet member for Highways and Transport, struck a realistic tone: "We know our roads are not perfect and there is always more work to do, but the work completed so far means we're entering the season in the best position possible."
<h2>Barnsley's focus on repeat repairs</h2>
Barnsley's proposal, reported on October 5, would add £10 million over four years to the council's existing £18.3 million highways capital programme. According to the council, the money would expand frontline repair teams and support a wider range of repair methods and materials that are less likely to need repeat repairs. The proposal is due to go to cabinet on November 4 and has not yet been approved.
The council has been open about the dilemma behind it. In February, after heavy rain, freezing temperatures and repeated freeze-thaw cycles drove a sharp rise in defects, Barnsley explained that it carries out temporary repairs when a pothole could put people at risk but the weather or conditions aren't right for a longer-lasting fix. Every highway authority with a northern winter knows that trade-off.
<h2>Why winter punishes weak repairs</h2>
Freeze-thaw is the enemy of a marginal patch. Water seeps into gaps around the edge of a repair, freezes, expands and pushes the material loose. Each cycle widens the gap. By late winter, a fill that looked fine in November can be gone, and the hole is often bigger than before.
That's why first-time fix rates matter so much heading into the darker months. Every repair that holds through a freeze-thaw season is a crew visit that doesn't have to happen in February, when demand is highest and working conditions are at their worst.
<h2>Building a better winter toolkit</h2>
Preventative work such as surface dressing, resurfacing and drainage is the long-term defence, and both councils are investing in it. But new defects will still appear this winter, and some will need attention in rain or near-freezing conditions.
For those repairs, material choice can tilt the odds. EZ STREET® Ambient® Asphalt is engineered to stay thermally resilient through temperature swings, and it's formulated to work in water, so a repair can go into a wet hole rather than waiting for a dry day. It bonds to existing asphalt and concrete, needs no heating, mixing or tack coat, and is ready for traffic once compacted. Because it can be stockpiled for months without degrading, depots can keep it ready for the first freeze-thaw spike instead of scrambling for supply.
<h2>The measure that matters</h2>
Lancashire and Barnsley are approaching winter from different starting points, but they're aiming at the same target: fewer repairs that have to be done twice. For any council or property manager preparing for the season, that's the right goal. Clear the drains, protect surfaces that are still sound, and fill new defects with performance-proven materials such as Ambient® that are built to endure. Find out more at <a href="https://ezstreetasphalt.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ezstreetasphalt.com</a>.
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Source notes: Lancashire County Council (Oct 6, 2026); Blackpool Gazette (Oct 6, 2026); Barnsley Essentials (Oct 5, 2026); Highways News (Oct 5, 2026); Barnsley Council (Aug 21, 2026); Barnsley Council (Feb 26, 2026).

Lancashire and Barnsley are preparing for winter with major road funding to boost first-time pothole fixes and reduce repeat repairs ahead of freeze-thaw cycles.

Lancashire Barnsley Chase First-Time Fixes

Lancashire and Barnsley Head Into Winter Chasing First-Time Pothole Fixes

Some winters don’t just leave snow. They leave a map of craters.
Canada’s freeze-thaw cycles are a masterclass in pavement stress. Water enters a crack, freezes, expands, weakens the surface, then melts and invites the next round. Do that enough times under traffic, and you’ve got the kind of holes that empty wallets and patience.
Two 2026 stories capture the mood. In Alberta, frustrated residents didn’t wait for another press release. Businessman Mohamed Tarrabin and about 80 construction-experienced volunteers filled roughly 200 potholes on a two-kilometre stretch of Highway 63 south of Fort McMurray in mid-June — a planned protest with RCMP traffic control. Locals had described southbound lanes with holes around 15 centimetres deep. Tarrabin said vehicle damage after hitting craters had run about $10,000 on one of his SUVs. Alberta Transportation noted its contractor had completed about 120,000 kilograms of pothole repairs in the urban service area since April 1, much of it overnight, with more paving planned.
Farther east, Montreal’s season told a funding-and-weather story. Officials reported 3,824 pothole-related complaints between January 1–27, 2026 — nearly five times the 796 logged in the same period a year earlier. Environment Canada recorded at least 17 winter days with temperatures swinging above and below zero. Pavement researchers pointed to maintenance shortfalls layered on top of harsh cycles. A 2021 CAA-Québec estimate put poor-road vehicle repair costs for Quebec motorists at about $258 a year — more than double the national average at the time. The city planned roughly $684 million on roadwork in 2026, and had repaired 103,026 potholes through private contracts in 2025.
Different provinces. Same physics. Same public frustration when fills don’t keep up with the climate.
<h2>Why freeze-thaw punishes weak repairs</h2>
A patch that doesn’t bond, sheds under wheel load, or softens and ravels when temperatures swing becomes a second defect. Agencies need materials that stay workable when windows are short, bond without elaborate prep, and remain thermally resilient when January can’t decide whether it’s thawing or freezing.
Property managers and homeowners feel a smaller version of the same problem on driveways, alley aprons, and parking lots. You can’t control the provincial highway budget. You can control the hole outside the loading dock before someone twists an ankle or claims a tire.
<h2>DIY / small-site how-to with bagged ambient asphalt</h2>
<a href="https://www.ezstreetasphalt.com/what-is-ez-street" target="_blank" rel="noopener">EZ STREET® Ambient®</a> asphalt is available in bags for small and DIY-scale repairs, and by the ton when a site grows. It’s ready-to-use, performance-proven ambient asphalt technology — no mixing, no tack coat, throw-and-go. It bonds to asphalt, concrete, and itself; works in wet conditions; and is instantly ready for traffic after proper placement. Stockpiling for months without degradation is handy for facilities teams who want material on the shelf before spring break-up.
Here’s a practical sequence for a driveway or parking-lot hole:
<ol>
<li>Mark and clean. Sweep out loose rock, dirt, and failed asphalt. If water is pooled, broom or pump what you can; it’s formulated to work in wet conditions, but removing standing sludge still helps the pack.</li>
<li>Square the edges if they’re fretted. A cleaner edge gives the new material something solid to key against. Keep the hole’s depth consistent where possible.</li>
<li>Pour and place. Open the bag and fill the defect slightly above grade to allow for compaction. No bonding agent required.</li>
<li>Compact in lifts if the hole is deep. Use a hand tamper or plate compactor. For driveways, a car tire rolled carefully over the patch can help for shallow repairs after initial hand tamping.</li>
<li>Feather the edges. Blend the repair into the surrounding surface so tires don’t catch a ridge.</li>
<li>Open to use. The repair is traffic-ready immediately — one reason facilities crews like engineered ambient asphalt for overnight or weekend work.</li>
</ol>
For larger lots, stage bags near chronic failure spots (drain lines, entrance radii, dumpster pads). Thermally stable performance across seasons means you’re not waiting on a perfect paving day to knock down trip hazards.
<h2>What communities and crews can take from Alberta and Montreal</h2>
Citizen fill-ins on a major highway aren’t a long-term maintenance model — and Alberta’s legal framework treats unauthorised highway work carefully. They are a signal: people will act when they feel the network isn’t keeping up. Montreal’s complaint spike shows how fast freeze-thaw can overwhelm even a big-city response if foundations and funding lag.
The constructive path is better programmes and better materials. Enduring, traffic-ready fills — including EZ STREET Ambient for both agency stockpiles and bagged site work — help close defects before the next thaw opens them wider.
Whether you manage a provincial corridor or a 40-stall parking lot, the physics don’t care about your org chart. Water, freeze, load, repeat. Answer with a repair that bonds, holds, and gets traffic moving again the same day.
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Source notes: Calgary Journal / CP — Alberta Hwy 63 protest fill-in (Jun 2026); Global News — Montreal freeze-thaw / funding (Feb 2026); <a href="https://www.ezstreetasphalt.com/what-is-ez-street" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ezstreetasphalt.com/what-is-ez-street</a> Cover photo: Oregon Department of Transportation, <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">CC BY 2.0</a>.

From Alberta highway protests to Montreal’s freeze-thaw spike — why lasting fills matter, plus a simple DIY guide with bagged EZ STREET Ambient.

Freeze-Thaw, Frustrated Drivers, and a Practical Driveway Fix You Can Do This Week

Freeze-thaw cycles are best known for how they undermine pavement integrity. But when things get really cold, asphalt cracks up in a different way.
Recently, winters in much of the US have been warmer and wetter, particularly in the upper Midwest, than in previous years. But slicing a cold knife into these seemingly mild winters on an almost annual basis are the polar vortexes, the deep penetration of Arctic air fronts that stretch as far south as Texas and northern Florida. These typically last from a few days to one or two weeks.
Paradoxically, the polar vortexes are the result of warmer temperatures in the Arctic. Warmer air there can cause the stratospheric polar vortex – which typically stays in the Arctic latitudes – to weaken and become unstable. Characterized by a band of strong winds, the vortex wobbles, stretches, and even splits, <a href="https://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/understanding-arctic-polar-vortex">according to NOAA</a>, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This allows the Arctic air to spill southward into mid-latitude regions.
In other words, the air temps more typical of Fairbanks visited Chicago, Nashville, and even Dallas in early 2024. Billings, Montana had a temperature reading of -30°F on January 13. Even Houston had 19°F on January 16.
This matters in all kinds of ways – including how those exceptionally frigid temperatures, often registering well below zero degrees Fahrenheit, adversely affect pavement. Where freeze-thaw cycles, when the thermometer dances above and below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, are most often blamed for the creation of potholes, deep freeze temperatures wreak their own havoc with asphalt due to a different set of factors and reactions within the structure of the asphalt.
Known as “low-temperature cracking,” the pavement shrinks such that tensile stresses build up. When the tensile stress equals and exceeds the strength of the asphalt concrete mixture, a micro-crack develops at the surface and edge of the pavement structure. With either prolonged very cold temperatures, or from cycles of temperatures at higher levels, the crack penetrates the full depth and width of the asphalt layer.
Those cracks can be damaging enough on their own. But when they allow moisture to penetrate the top layer of the pavement, the freeze-thaw dynamic create a subsurface bubble in the pavement. Whether a semi-tractor trailer, an SUV, or a <a href="https://www.pothole.info/2022/02/cruel-march-should-be-national-freeze-thaw-month/">motorcycle</a>, any vehicle passing over these pavement bubbles turn them into potholes.
So when the weather starts to warm up after a deep freeze, expect a fresh crop of potholes.

How Extreme Deep Freeze Weather Affects Roads

Unusual weather conditions bring a raft of road crevasses from San Diego to Minneapolis and just about everywhere else – along with accidents and injuries.
Is there something about the winter of 2023 that is extraordinary, pothole-wise?
That might well be the case, but not for the usual reasons. Typically, brutal and extended cold and snowy periods give way to potholes in the spring, beginning in February in southern states, followed in March and April as one heads further north. That's the time when those potholes appear – jarring bumps are usually as seasonal as bobbing red robins and daffodils.
But oddly warmer weather in the nation's midsection, as well as a relentless stream of moisture on the West Coast, are likely the causes of more potholes than usual in the first month of 2023.
An AccuWeather report on Yahoo! News looked at the <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/major-us-cities-experiencing-early-002326514.html">extraordinary weather conditions</a> and resultant potholes in San Francisco, as well as the snowy-but-warmer winter happening in Minneapolis. In both, pothole reports to departments of transportation are up above normal.
"With all the heavy rains, potholes do form in greater numbers, especially when you've had the rain that we've had," says Michael Cox, a division manager with Los Angeles Public Works. They've received 1,400 repair requests in the first 20 days of the year, while Rachel Gordon, a spokesperson for the San Francisco Public Works says the 750 requests they received the first two weeks of January far outpaced the typical monthly total of 600 requests.
Meanwhile, in the Twin Cities of Minnesota the snowfall is far above normal – 50 inches this winter versus the average of 24 inches by mid-January. Joe Paumen of Minneapolis Public Works says the snow is less the problem than temperatures being warm enough to cycle through freezing and thawing every 24-hour period. "You get that freezing temperature during the night, then it thaws out during the day, consequently you get more potholes than normal," he says.
According to the motorist advocacy organization AAA, ruined suspension systems and flat tires amount to $3 billion in car damages every year in the US. But the damage isn't restricted to consumer automobiles. The increased number of potholes in these different regions affect the pace and cost of commerce. "They need to fix these potholes," a truck driver told a CBS News crew in Minneapolis. "It's bad and it's getting worse. We already broke two axles on these trucks."
And it's a danger to human safety. A 60-year-old man in San Diego <a href="https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/man-critically-injured-after-pothole-sends-him-flying-off-scooter-in-torrey-pines/509-0a6cf6f6-0b41-4c3f-a900-e3f2256492be">struck a pothole</a> while riding an electric scooter in January. He was found unconscious on a street that was riddled with several deep potholes – thought to be due to "a dramatic uptick of potholes around San Diego County," according to CBS8 News. His condition was critical with severe injuries and facial fractures, according to San Diego Police.
The city already has nine trucks and crews repairing potholes in January, something that is not possible in colder climates – where repairs at best are temporary until roads are dry and warmer, or if the road authorities use a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0PRfXG3cbg">polymer-modified cold mix</a> pothole repair material.

Winter of 2023 Among the Worst for Potholes

Extreme weather creates future potholes. Compounding this is how roads in the South might suffer more because the asphalt formulations are made for heat.
The Christmas week arctic blast – bomb cyclone Elliott, as it was called – across the entire midsection and East Coast of the US played havoc on transportation in many ways. Flight cancellations and advisories to stay off the roads were among them. But the deep freezing temperatures, in the negative (below zero degrees Fahrenheit) numbers, will probably have a long-term impact – from the Dakotas to Texas and Florida to Maine – due to damage to asphalt pavement.
The idea that winter conditions are what cause many if not most potholes isn’t new. Particularly when temperatures cycle above and below 32ºF, a process known as the freeze-thaw cycle, moisture invades small cracks and then expands (when frozen) to make those cracks bigger. That ultimately leads to bigger cracks, undermining pavement and causing the craters that inflict flat tires, damaged suspension systems, and sometimes deadly accidents.
But another problem arises as unusually frigid arctic air reaches further south. This is because road building varies a bit depending on the prevailing climate. In other words, the highways of North Dakota and Minnesota aren’t exactly like those of Texas and Louisiana. The variations are intended to account for warmer summer temperatures and a greater number of days of sunshine in those Southern states, as well as the deep freeze temperatures more typical of the northern Plains states.
“We’re building roads to withstand last century’s climate”
“The problem comes down to asphalt, which is a temperature-sensitive surface,” wrote John Timmer in <a href="https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/09/were-building-roads-to-withstand-last-centurys-climate/">arstechnica</a>, a science, technology, automotive, and policy publication. His article, “We’re building roads to withstand last century’s climate” was published in 2017, alleging that “asphalt in use tolerates the temperature extremes of a period that ended in 1995 … It can crack if it gets too cold or undergoes freeze/thaw cycles, and it can partially melt if temperatures get high enough.”
“Of the roads built over the past 20 years, a full 35 percent were produced using an incorrect material,” the article continues. “In most cases, this involves a tolerance for cold temperatures that no longer occur. But in a quarter of these cases, the road was experiencing high temperatures that it wasn&#8217;t designed to tolerate.”
In other words, the design and construction of pavement has yet to be adapted to such things as bomb cyclones that bring record low temperatures in the South, as well as blistering summer temperatures when they reach farther north. In December 2022, places such as Tulsa, Oklahoma experienced a record low of -9ºF  – this was while water systems in Shreveport (Louisiana), Selma (Alabama), and Greenville (South Carolina) froze. In Georgia, Atlanta’s 911 system was overwhelmed with calls about broken pipes in homes and businesses.
And in the Pacific Northwest, typically known for its moderate weather, the past two summers have experienced the opposite phenomenon: record high heat.  The thermometer showed 120°F at Hanford, Washington, on June 29, 2021. On July 31, 2022, Portland, Oregon hit 116ºF, its all-time high, about a year after Seattle reached its record high of 108ºF on June 28, 2021.
A delayed awareness of how cold affects pavement
With broken pipes, cancelled flights by the thousands, and scores of deaths due to the storm, the effects on pavement might not be noticed until weeks and months into the future. Perhaps then departments of transportations in cities and states of the affected regions will tally the damage to pavement to identify how to plan for future events.
“There are different formulations, however,” writes Timmer.  “So the starting material can sometimes be tailored to tolerate the temperatures it is likely to face. Engineering best practices involve figuring out the likely high and low temperatures a region is likely to face and choosing an asphalt blend that is rated to tolerate those.”
In other words, “temperatures a region is likely to face” is due rethinking by road engineers.
Meanwhile, in 2023, the millions of already-built roads need to be repaired and maintained. As potholes inevitably pop up later this winter and in the spring, they’ll likely (at best) get one of two treatments: a “throw-and-go” cold asphalt material, which is a temporary repair method, or a <a href="https://www.ezstreetasphalt.com/case-studies/pothole-repair/">specialized material</a> designed to ensure permanent repair. Throw-and-go is a lower-cost material, but labor costs incurred by repairing the same pothole a second time, in warmer weather, may make that method more expensive in total.

Arctic Blasts Slow Traffic Now – and Later

States and municipalities are trying to stay ahead of road repairs before cold and precipitation go to work on asphalt streets and highways.
It’s a race against time in West Virginia.
There, Huntington-based CBS affiliate 13 News <a href="https://www.wowktv.com/news/local/west-virginia-crews-patching-potholes-before-winter-weather/">reports</a> that state highway crews are busy “milling and patching” streets where pavement potholes are a problem. “Crews are racing against the weather to do the most patching they can in the longest lasting way possible,” reports the television station. “Right now they still have access to what is called hot patch to better fill the holes. But once the temperature drops they’ll only have access to the less effective cold patch.”
That is partially true. While asphalt hot mix plants shut down in winter when the air temperatures drop below the requisite 40-45 degrees Fahrenheit, there are different types of cold patch that can be used. The cheaper version is used as temporary fill during the worst of winter, only to be repatched with hot mix come warmer weather. But, there is a different type of polymer-modified <a href="https://www.ezstreetasphalt.com/products/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA4aacBhCUARIsAI55maFLlGgV41QBrIkBVSUoZapPeCLAqz8JB00QNMpqHVfE51TAy-Nj7JoaAqpfEALw_wcB">cold patch material</a>  that can make a permanent fix in cold, wet conditions.
That said, West Virginia is like many states that hit their own metaphorical potholes with a November report from an insurance industry <a href="https://quotewizard.com/news/pothole-damage-costs-us-drivers-3-billion-dollars-per-year">website</a>, QuoteWizard. “Pothole Damage Costs US Drivers $3 Billion a Year” was published in mid-November, listing states that likely have the worst potholes on their respective roads.
The QuoteWizard analysis was based on Google search statistics, finding where geographically the most people went online with pothole-related complaints and repairs. The top ten states, starting with the worst, are: Michigan, Indiana, Rhode Island, Washington state, Vermont, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee, and New York.
Of note, the analysis would likely rank larger-population states higher, due to more people doing more searching. But this list does not strictly correlate with population rankings, which (in descending order) are California, Texas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, etc., suggesting there are both maintenance and weather conditions that disfavor those in the top QuoteWizard list.
National statistics aside, the costs from potholes to individual motorists and passengers are high. According to the AAA, the average repair bill associated with pothole car damage is $306, and for 30% of those jarring car-meets-pavement events the bills run between $250 and $1000.
But it’s about more than vehicle damage. The <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/11/29/23483769/woman-dies-after-her-motorcycle-hits-pothole-on-near-south-side">death of 54-year-old female motorcyclist</a> in Chicago, shortly after Thanksgiving, was attributed  to a pothole.
Meanwhile, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, <a href="https://pressofatlanticcity.com/news/local/a-rough-ride-for-atlantic-city-community-wants-main-roads-fixed/article_b844b2b2-6a80-11ed-83e5-e34a48406308.html">some of the streets</a> made famous by the board game Monopoly – Atlantic Avenue and Pacific Avenue, in particular – are the subject of much debate and criticism for being in such bad disrepair. Part of the problem is timing, as a reconfiguration project that will incorporate lanes for bicycles and related streetscaping will not be completed until early 2024. In the interim, spot patching is being done.
So while it’s clear that each state and municipality approaches their road asphalt quality on a case-by-case basis, a few things are certain regardless of planning and budgets: potholes are expensive to motorists, and they create deadly hazards.

Pothole Prep for the Winter of 2022-2023

It's pothole repair season, from coast to coast and road crevasse to street pit. And lest anyone think their city, county, or state is more afflicted than any other, we provide for you a snapshot of what asphalt looks like in the spring of 2022:
"This year's pothole season one of the worst in recent memory," reports TBNewsWatch.com. Owing to "a hard winter on our roads with the continual freeze-thaw," Thunder Bay (Ontario)'s director of engineering, Kayla Dixon, says they are still doing temporary road patching – because even in May it's still too cold for full-out repaving. "Until we see asphalt plants open up, really the patching that we're doing is a very temporary measure."
(Asphalt plants everywhere shut down in winter because it's not possible to transport and install hot asphalt when air and surface temperatures are below 55 degrees F; winter repairs are made with cold patch material, some of which is permanent and some of which is not.)
A nearby Canadian car repair service provider ticked off the source of his business as of late: &#8220;This year especially there has been a lot of pothole damage, basically front-end damage on cars – especially, rims, tires, ball joints – so I&#8217;ve definitely seen more frequent customers coming in, more frequent damages to their cars. Ultimately, it&#8217;s just the result of the current road conditions,&#8221; said Kyle Jacklitch, service advisor at Done-Rite.
"Scrub Hub: Is climate change making Indianapolis' pothole problems even worse?" The Indianapolis Star environmental reporter cites a study (from an insurance company) of internet searches for pothole-caused car repairs. A key finding was that Indiana is ranked second nationwide for pothole problems. The story discusses the interplay of environmental concerns with deteriorating infrastructure. First, the fluctuations over and under 32 degrees happened on 36 days between December 2021 and May 2022 (freeze-thaw cycles are the most damaging to asphalt), which is a departure from the past, according to Marion County's Department of Public Works. Temperatures in winter generally stayed below 32 degrees most winters for months on end, reducing the number of those above-and-below freezing days – a fact borne out by studies conducted by the Purdue Climate Change Research Center.
Picketers at Muskegon Heights (near Grand Rapids, Michigan) City Hall demanded in April that the city council fix the roads. "The roads are nearly impassable," says the WZZM13-TV news reader, as the program showed a shockingly pothole-scarred road. "Street repairs will be done with the replacement of lead water service lines," she continued, illustrating some of the complexity around municipal utilities and pavement.
'Drivers face $600 car repair costs after pothole damage,' reports Fox Business. Citing the AAA as its source, the network says, "America's crumbling infrastructure is felt by drivers across the country who are faced with unexpected car repairs … Potholes caused $26.5 billion worth of damage in 2021, leaving about 1 in 10 drivers to cope with an average repair cost of $600."
Providing advice, the business program says to (1) check your tires to make sure they are fully inflated, (2) scan the road for potholes, not assuming standing puddles are shallow, and (3), look for warning signs such as unusual vibrations in the car or if the steering wheel keeps pulling in one direction. "Bring your car to a trusted mechanic to determine if you need repairs."
What is clear from reporting all over the country is that road crews are out, increasingly so as the weather warms, repairing the damage of the past winter. We should all look out for potholes – but also drive carefully and slowly as those crews shovel and compress the repair material that will make for a smoother ride this summer.
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Spring Pothole Season 2022: Be careful out there

It's that time of year, that month that is the dividing line between winter and spring, when hope springs eternal but car shocks might not.
March is the month when temperatures fluctuate above and below the freezing mark (32°F). Of course, the further south one goes that is more above freezing than below, but the fact remains that those oscillations are what matters most. Because simple water, in its expansions and contractions, can kill.
To that point, March might be the month of the greatest number of pothole formations (although, can you call it "formation" when what it is is a void?). But let's remember that potholes are a result, not a cause. So let's name this time for what it is: National Freeze-Thaw Month.
Potholes and falling bricks in March
Because when something melts and then freezes again in spaces like cracks, hard objects pry apart. Of course, we most often think of that in terms of pavement – when cracks in asphalt are pushed apart by water that turns to ice overnight, only to be filled up again when the sun shines the next day, then frozen apart further when nighttime temperatures drop.
There is another phenomenon affecting cities called "Jack Frosting," which refers to that moment when rain becomes freezing rain in major cities like New York. The frozen precipitation gets into the cracks in building facings and façades. The physics of the little moisture crowbars are such that portions of concrete, brick, terra cotta, and mortar come loose and fall – into alleys, onto sidewalks, bouncing off canopies, and sometimes hitting pedestrians and cars.
Note the pedestrians and motorists are already busy avoiding puddles, ice patches, and potholes, looking down to protect themselves – and not at all looking up.
March is the cruelest month
December, January, and February are typically much colder, and consistently so. But March is when the tease of spring is abruptly met with the icy response of a winter that came back, like the guest who left their hat at the party and rudely knock on the door after the party hosts' turned their lights out.
T.S. Eliot wrote in his poem, "The Waste Land," that "April is the cruelest month." If you live in Minnesota, that clearly is true. Less so if you call Paris (France) home. But March, the time of the most freeze-thaw action in the temperate northern hemisphere, pretty much makes mincemeat of April.
Be careful out there – look up, down, and everywhere else. Potholes and Jack Frosting are out to get you.
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Cruel March Should be National Freeze-Thaw Month

It's that time of the year: If the black ice doesn't get you, the potholes might. And so might the ice bumps.
Ice bumps? Well, yes – but to be clear ice bumps or ice mounds should not be confused with black ice, those frozen areas of the roadways that, thanks to a combination of rapid freezing of snow or sleet, are so clear and flat because they lack bubbles to give them a lighter color. Instead, black ice takes on the color below it, usually black asphalt. And it's very dangerous because the unsuspecting motorist can slide on it since he or she does not anticipate such a slippery surface, assuming it's just a nice flat stretch of pavement. Black ice often lasts longer if it is mostly in shade, areas such as in tunnels, underpasses, bridges, and where there is minimal direct sunshine due to buildings or coniferous trees.
Ice bumps can be more visible to approaching vehicles. They are the convex counterparts to concave potholes. Ice bumps form where traffic on snow compact the white stuff, mix it with dirt, and then freeze solid with a drop in temperatures. The biggest ones can be hazardous to a car's undercarriage, slippery to vehicles – or a slip-and-trip hazard to runners, some of whom in these pandemic winters run on roads instead of sidewalks.
Traffic and perhaps random and irregular salting eventually wear these icy patches of compacted snow away. But like black ice, they can last a little longer than melting snow on the sides of road and consequently catch motorists unaware.
Potholes are the most persistent of these winter road problems. Because standard asphalt cannot be laid in wet, cold conditions, the typical repair of cratered roads in mid-winter is a temporary asphalt fill. More sophisticated pothole fillers can be used to create a permanent repair where departments of transportation use polymer-modified cold asphalt. Preventive maintenance is almost always the most economical choice where it comes to pavement preservation.<a href="https://www.pothole.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_2ce6.jpg"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-2046" src="/uploads/unadjustednonraw-thumb-2ce6-225x300-797aa01f.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" /></a>
So beware the patches, potholes and bumps. In a bad winter, the streets can be a battlefield.
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Winter & Weather