Opinion

Potholes have gotten worse despite all the roadwork

It is a paradox.

Wherever you try to drive, over the past year or two in Toronto, traffic has been tied up by construction — and not all of it to do with transit projects. Much of it has just been ongoing road repair work. You know, filling potholes, fixing clogged sewers, and doing mysterious work that I can’t figure out as I inch past cones marking off sections where nothing much seem to be happening at the moment.

And yet, it still seems our roads are worse than ever.

In the east end where I’m usually trying to get around, the roads are taking a greater toll on my aging wheels than ever before. The other day I thought I was going to lose an axle in one particular “sinkhole” near the intersection of Danforth Avenue and Victoria Park. And that’s a major thoroughfare. I can’t imagine what the total damage must be to the thousands of cars hitting that gap everyday.

Frankly, I don’t understand it. Why can’t we ever catch up to fixing our roads?

I do understand there will always be some maintenance work required to keep our roads ride-worthy. But I don’t get how we can lag so far behind that optimum level of repair. It really seems to me that our streets are in worse shape than ever.

Otto Richter
Cosburn Avenue

 

 

One thought on “Potholes have gotten worse despite all the roadwork

  • Otto Richter

    This is the worst year for potholes I have ever seen and I would wager I’m older than you. It is not even spring yet, so as they say…the worst is yet to come!

    I blame some of it on the huge construction going on all winter in Toronto with the massive, heavy trucks trundling down residential roads that were not built to bear such loads.

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