City of Brandon adds night crews to fight annual pothole battle that is even worse this year

Brandon road crews are shifting gears to road repairs from snow clearing after a winter of freeze-thaw cycles has left its streets riddled with potholes.

The city will have pothole crews working the nightshift in addition to regular day crews to speed up the repairs, a city press release said Friday.

The repairs can't come soon enough because it's hard to find a safe road in Brandon, resident Andrew Strahl says.

"Picking anywhere to go, even the side streets, are challenging," Strahl said. "It's the worst I've ever seen it and I've lived here my whole life."

Last month MPI saw 406 pothole claims in February and 98 as of March 10. In February 2023 there were 86 claims and 204 in March.

Strahl says he's trying to avoid major roads, such as 18th Street and First Street — which are under the jurisdiction of the province — and 26th Street, which is under the jurisdiction of the city. In fact, 18th Street was named second-worst road in the province by the Canadian Automobile Association in 2023.

He also avoids any double-lane roads because a lot of the time the right-hand lanes have been ravaged by the potholes.

"At the end of the day patch the road, and if it's a provincial thing send the bill to the province," Strahl said. "There needs to be an agreement in place that everyone can work on them all at the same time."

Shelley Kirk and Roxy Espenell travelled 90-kilometres south from Hamiota on Saturday to visit Brandon. They planned their trip around the potholes because they didn't want anything they bought to get broken on their very bumpy and "a little terrifying" drive.

They worried some of their purchases might break on the rough ride, Espenell said, adding they left some new plant pots at the store where they bought them so they could pick them up after running errands in the city. 

They are glad they brought a truck because sometimes it's easier to drive up on the curb rather than take on some of the deeper potholes.

"It feels like you're all over the place," trying to dodge potholes, Espenell said.

Kirk says no matter where you go it's bad.

Ahmed Shalaby, a University of Manitoba engineering professor who specializes in pavement design and highway materials, told CBC while cold weather is generally not good for infrastructure, roads that are already cracked or have potholes "will tend to see more damage" as they thaw.

Cities need to prioritize road repairs that involve safety concerns in the short term, but those fixes tend not to be long-lasting or cheap in this weather, he says. More permanent repairs need to be reserved for the summer.

Winter mix for repairs now, asphalt in the spring

Brandon's crews are using a winter mix to fill potholes for now, the city says. When the weather warms up crews will start to use a more permanent asphalt mix, which is usually available in May. 

Another risk for the roads, Shalaby says, would be weather that fluctuates from freezing to warm: "That would be more damaging."

Tasha Adolph says when she drives her Honda Civic it feels like it's getting pulled all over the road by the potholes. 

"It's not good," she said. "I don't know what they're going to do about it, but it sucks." 

Arthur Au, who has lived in Brandon for almost 50 years, says potholes are a rite of spring in the Wheat City, but this year seems especially bad.

"There are many, many potholes everywhere," Au said.

He says his family tries to take some of the smaller roads because there are fewer cars and fewer potholes that might damage his car.

"I hope that the government tries their best to fix it up," Au said. "But we know they have many, many other priorities, too."