What about the other 20,000

2000 pot holes filled? In which town? surely not PG? The roads in this town are disgusting. Take a drive down many main roads to find craters. Pot hole repairs in this town are a joke!!!!! They last a week or two before they disintegrate. Moisture and asphalt don't adhere to one another. This year Ospika is in rough shape? haha that's an understatement and it didn't just happen over the winter. I suppose we will hear that there is no money left over to pave due to the heavy snowfall this winter. I wonder how we made it back in the early 70's and 80's when we had regular snow falls of the same amount. Focus on the infrastructure instead of winter games and arts centers.

Yea...go fix Ospika....that is just horrid driving conditions on that stretch of road...

I wonder if they filled all those potholes like the few I have seen being filled.
Cold pack dumped into a wet hole and tamped down.
looks good until the first frost and then the water under the patch freezes, expands, loosens the patch and within a few days the hole is back.
Doesn't sound like very prudent use of funds and materials to me.

Every year at the start of pothole season I posted this or something similar to it! Here we go again:

The one-person pothole-patching operation is made possible by the self-propelled unit shown in the photograph below. A fully equipped patcher like this one cost the Dickinson County Road Commission just over $100,000 almost two years ago, and Superintendent Tim Hammill thinks it was a good buy. Hammill observed, "I never thought I could propose spending over $100,000 on a pothole patcher, but these days we have to look at equipment that will be cost-effective in the long run."

Hammill first saw the patcher at a convention, and he learned more about it when he talked with maintenance officials in Anchorage, Alaska, where three of the machines were already in use. He told the Reporter that recently when agencies in Minnesota were interested in the pothole patcher, representatives came to Dickinson County for a demonstration. They happened to show up when temperatures were -30 degrees F. They were concerned they would not see the machine at work because of the cold, but they were able to watch as pothole repair continued--at 30 below. The Minnesotans were so impressed they ordered three machines--that day.

Rosco Manufacturing Company of Madison, South Dakota makes the pothole patcher used in Dickinson County. Rosco estimates 200 to 250 units similar to Dickinson County's are operating across the United States. A representative from Rosco told the Reporter that more than 3,000 automated pothole-patching units from various manufacturers are now in service.

Message to City Hall: Google Pothole Patching Equipment

Every spring its the same old story, people griping about the potholes they hit, the damage to their vehicles. We know they're gonna be there. This is where defensive driving really helps. Slow down, quit following so close, don't talk on the phone. If you do this you shouldn't have to cut someone else off in the next lane.
In England they cut the pothole out and patch. Yes, its more expensive, but they don't have to repatch the next bloody day.
Just try taking it a little easier. I avoid 95% of the potholes because I'm concentrating on avoiding them.

Domano to be repaved, Mick I suggest you check the repaving schedule. The worst part of Domano is not being repaved, amazing.

That pot hole machine, most likely the city will rent one for the games and then we will after never see it again.

"In England they cut the pothole out and patch. Yes, its more expensive, but they don't have to repatch the next bloody day."

Ya well, last I checked Englands weather is a lot different than ours. Do they ever get below 0?

Automated pothole patching machines do a COMPLETE job. All the loose stuff and water are blasted out of the hole with a blast of very hot air. When the hole is clean and dry (!) the hot patching material is sprayed into the hole layer upon layer. When the filling is completed the top is sprayed with a dusting powder to seal it and prevent tires from sticking to it.

I know that this is not such a very difficult technical subject that it can not be grasped by virtually anyone. Why the stubborn resistance?

It works, they use it in places which are even colder than Prince George. They use it in other Canadian cities.

Prince George seems to have a mental block when it comes to trying something modern and more efficient.

O.K., I give up until next year!

Everybody have fun trying to steer around the countless cracks and holes! It's good exercise for the upper body and there are plenty of tire shops and suspension repair shops that want to make money too!

Try not to have an accident!

But:
check out Basingstoke news, and yah they get plenty of pothole repair in spring.
Prince George, you've got a great idea, why not go down to a council meeting and hit them up with it. All you'll get is "we'll refer this to Mick and see, if it costs more than the winter games, we won't be able to do it this year.........."
Til then, play dodge the hole or see a mechanic.

Crews should be out on Ospika asap to fix that mess. It is dangerous for the public to try and avoid all those craters on a main artery. Why do we even say potholes? They literally are craters.

Has anyone noticed that the two highways running in and out of town are virtually pothole free? They would see the heaviest traffic all year round. Oh wait, that is not city responsibility. Makes more sense now.

For openers there is such a thing as a tiger torch that was used by Highways in the old dsys to dry ou the pot hales and a small tamper also works much better then a shovel or your feet to pack in the fill.

Mr Jones needs a wakeup call with a termination notice.
Cheers

The higways running in and out of the City are built to Provincial Standards, and are therefore much better than the cheap S..t the city calls pavement.

The bottom line is that we need to re-do all our streets to a decent standard, and we need to start now. If we go to buying machines to repair potholes, then we are basically going to be in the pothole repair business for years to come.

Lets start to spend some tax dollars where it counts. ie; infrastructure. Screw projects like the Community Energy System, Performing Arts Centre, etc; etc;. Its to late to modify the Police Station, however the Station is a prime example of wasted monies. River road was another example of wasted dollars.

The people who run this City should be ashamed of themselves.

Didn't the City learn anything from any of the "Winter Cities" summits in the past? How do other cities with the same climate deal with the road conditions?

I agree that maybe the City should look at the specifications for the main roads.

There are sooooo many, you cannot avoid them!!!

The city plans to repave part of Domano and they are doing it right now, go and see. The prepaving plan is to let the top layer of pavement be beat off revealing the older bottom layer. Once the top layer is beat off they will say, see repaved without repaving, man they are smart and money saved for the PAC.

Palopu, you know as much as I do that they would rather borrow 60 million dollars for a Performing Arts Centre than 60 million dollars to once and for all remedy the busted up and patched over and over streets of the City.

That is the reality!

The existing potholes must be fixed professionally using the latest equipment and technology. There is not an option to let things slide while endless studies and recommendations are conducted - with the usual status quo being the final outcome.

When this automated equipment first came out (crude and not very reliable) apparently a demonstration was made here, probably three decades ago. The outcome was not very good.

Now this equipment has been improved and gives excellent results.

I observed a crew coming by to "repair" some huge craters in the road. They did not use a tamping tool but smacked the stuff with the back of a shovel and got a rear wheel of their truck to drive over it a couple of times.

Two days later the holes were just as big as before.

If one is against buying proper pot hole patching equipment one is basically endorsing the continued use of the above mentioned slap stick and shovel method.

What a joke!

2,000 holes filled, over 87 days (Jan.1 to Mar. 28) = about 23 per day. There must be 23 holes per block on some streets around PG. Is there only one person, working 8 hrs. per day on pothole patrol? (tongue in cheek) It does seem that fewer holes are being patched.
metalman.

We need a Democratic Mayor that will simply put the PAC and new roads to a vote. The citizens of Prince George get one vote each as how to spend roughly $60 million, two options one outcome and be done with it.

"The one-person pothole-patching operation"

A contractor employed by the city or YRB a couple of years ago used a similar machine to patch the cracks in the hwys. around town, during summer though. It seemed to do a decent job. Not sure if it would work in cold weather, but it sounds much the same as what PG describes; blasts the hole/gap with hot air, sprays an asphaltic product into same, then caps with a non stick layer of sand (read also non stick layer for motorcycle tires, albeit less of a concern this time of year)
metalman.

Vulgar Sage,funny comments I like the one about your In-laws.I'm surprised Dan the Man hasn't come up with some hairbrained scheme such as adopt a pothole.They could auction them off for people to look after there favourite pothole and add funds to the city coffers,so they can give it away whenever they want to purchase some land downtown.Oh well,it makes driving in PG even more interesting than it already was.

Anyone checked around the Mayors home or the Alder-peoples homes to see how many or few potholes they have to deal with?

We that live down Domano are special. We got bump signs installed the other day. It's a good thing too, cause if it weren't for those signs I surely would've hit one!

"The pothole hotline has been busy says Jones, but a little quieter than in previous years"

Hmmm, maybe cause people are

"The pothole hotline has been busy says Jones, but a little quieter than in previous years"

Hmmm, maybe cause people are

SICK AND TIRED OF WASTING THEIR TIME CALLING IN FOR NOTHING!

On my street and the adjoining street are ditches. They snow was excavated from these ditches. Apparently the back hoe operator (city) works by Braille when digging next to our and other culvert pipe ends. Folding the ends of many pipes like a roll of lifesavers. Most annoying.

Last year there were crater-like potholes on 15th Ave. in the Millar Addition which I reported and it was filled within 24 hours. I was impressed.
Now this next comment is coming from a very biased place I will say honestly.
We are very priviledged in PG to have what we have. Look at the situation in Japan right now. A good day in northern Japan right now would be to have shelter, heat, food and water. We have no idea how good we have it until it's all taken away. And we're complaining about potholes. At least we have roads!
Like I said previously, I'm coming from a biased perspective. Most of us have warm homes, comfort and safety tonight. Let's be appreciative of this because they're HUGE.

Thanks DNak. for trying to give the rest of us some perspective. You may indeed be biased, and that is okay with me. I think you are really only looking at the 'big picture', with a reminder about the plight of those affected by the recent events in Japan for extra colour. You are right, we must be grateful for our many riches. The fact that some, including me, have the time to complain about something non life threatening, like potholes, is proof that things are relatively okay in our world.
metalman.