Pothole patching up 50 per cent, street sweep ahead of schedule

Saskatoon city crews have patched 50 per cent more potholes this spring compared to the same amount of time last year.

Since the start of patching 10 days ago, crews report they have used 302 tonnes of hot mix asphalt to fix the equivalent of 17,000 average sized potholes, compared to 11,000 repair jobs done during the first nine days last year. The city measures an average pothole as 12 inches in diameter and four inches deep.

They have also repaired 30 of the 540 utility cuts including the one near 8th Street and Emerson Avenue that became famous when a video showed a car bouncing into the air after hitting the dip. However, some of the cuts can’t be repaired until the ground completely thaws.

Potholes can be reported on the city website

Warm, sunny weather has also put the city ahead of schedule with its annual street sweeping program.

Over the last three weeks, city crews have already removed 4,460 tonnes of sand and debris from 620 lane kilometres of medians and main streets, roughly the distance between Saskatoon and Calgary.
Crews were able to start sweeping two weeks earlier than last year and unlike last year’s April snowstorm, there haven’t been any weather interruptions.

Once high-traffic streets are finished next week, crews will move onto neighbourhood sweeping starting May 1st with Parkridge and Meadowgreen.

Yellow no parking signs will be put up at least 36 hours before sweeping with schedules posted online. Cars left on marked off streets will be ticketed $100 and moved to a nearby street. Owners searching for their car can use the Find My Vehicle application or call customer service at 306-975-2476.

A single street sweeper crew can cover, on average, 16 kilometres of curb lanes a day, 75,000 square metres of residential roads and between four and eight kilometres of median depending on how much debris there is.