One of several pothole filling trucks
Pothole maintenance

City of Prince George begins pothole repairs

Mar 21, 2024 | 2:20 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Now that the snow is mostly melted and our streets are clear, the City of Prince George has begun its annual pothole maintenance.

Up to this point, the City’s Manager of Roads and Fleets Jordan Wiseman says 74 potholes have been filled, with 52 of those being responses to service requests.

“We’re just getting started, we’re not receiving a lot of calls, and the inspections that we do on some of our higher speed, higher volume roads, they’re just not producing the potholes that they normally would. But that doesn’t mean that they’re not going to be there,” Wiseman said.

“Last year we did around 2500 potholes in 2023. So that’s significantly lower than, say, eight years ago where we did almost 20,000 potholes. The capital paving plan that has been approved by council over the last few years is paying dividends for us,” he continued.

While the season is early, Wiseman explained there haven’t been as many potholes as usual this season, which is thanks to the relative lack of snow and a quick freeze-thaw cycle. That, compounded with the Capital Paving Plan and general road maintenance over the years, means there will likely be less potholes than usual to fill.

“We have seen a dramatic decrease in potholes over the last few years. Again, that’s because of the capital investment that’s going back into the roads, and we’re hopeful that that trend continues.”

At the moment the City is using its cold mix to fill potholes, which isn’t ideal, as industrial mix is preferred. Wiseman explained this is because the industrial mix hasn’t been made yet, but once it does the City will be filling potholes with that, as well as going over previously filled potholes to make sure everything is ok.

“The asphalt plants don’t open up probably until around the middle of April, obviously subject to weather.”

If you see a pothole that you would like fixed, Wiseman says you can phone 311 or 250-561-7600.

Local news. Delivered. Free. Subscribe to our daily news wrap and get our top local stories delivered to your inbox every evening.