Welcome to “Pot-awa,” where the roads are bad in the spring.
Potholes are inevitable, but this year, the city is hoping to fill those car-rattling potholes a bit more effectively using a new Heat Design Equipment asphalt recycling unit that allows crews to fill the holes with hot asphalt, even during the winter.?
“That provides a much more durable and long-lasting repair than the cold mix,” said Eric Katmarian, the manager of operations, planning, research and technical services with the City of Ottawa during a demonstration of the unit Thursday.
“It bonds better. It compacts better. It lasts longer and the reason we don’t use the hot mix in the winter is because the local plants shut down.”
The City of London has been using the hot asphalt unit for a number of years, said Dan O’Keefe, the district manager for roads, parks and trees with the city, but this is the first time Ottawa has used hot asphalt to fill potholes during the winter.
“So far we like what we see,” he said.?
The city’s surface operations branch deploys up to 30 crews during the day and 19 crews at night to temporarily fill potholes.?
Mayor Larry O’Brien said the most effective way to fight the city’s pothole problem is report them.?
“No matter how sharp-eyed our 30 groups out there in the streets are, they will never be as sharp as 894,000 (pairs of) eyes giving us advice and identification as to where these potholes are.”
