Your potholes are costing millions, but they don't have to
Alright, so you know how it is. Every spring, it’s less about "April showers bring May flowers" and more about "April thaws bring May potholes." We navigate them like a slalom course on the way to work, trying to save our suspensions. The City of Edmonton spent $11.7 million last year, 2023 that is, fixing over 650,000 potholes. That’s enough potholes to stretch from the Legislature Building all the way out past Elk Island Park, if you laid them end to end. Honestly though, you could probably just find that many on Calgary Trail on any given Tuesday in March.
A University of Alberta professor, however, has stepped into the fray, suggesting this annual ritual of automotive destruction and municipal repair isn't some immutable law of the North. He posits that we *could* actually prevent a good chunk of them. It makes you wonder, doesn't it? All those years, all those tire rotations, all those near-misses with the curb, and there might have been another way. It’s like finding out after forty years of living through -30°C winters that you could have been wearing a better parka the whole time. It builds character, yes, but sometimes a little less character-building in the form of a smoother commute would be welcome.
### What This Means for Edmonton
It's not just about a smoother ride down Groat Road, though that would be a genuine miracle. Think about the implications:
* **Saving serious coin:** That $11.7 million could go a long way in, say, finally finishing the multi-use path system along the River Valley, which is already the largest urban park system in North America, forty times the size of Central Park. * **Less wear and tear:** On our vehicles, on our nerves, on our municipal budget. It’s a win-win, provided the solutions are actually feasible for our freeze-thaw cycles. * **The annual debate:** Maybe, just maybe, we can shift the conversation from "who’s going to fix *this* one?" to "how are we making sure *that* one never forms?"
Edmonton has always been a city that finds a way, even if it's through sheer grit and a philosophical acceptance of the inevitable. But if there’s a smarter way to manage the asphalt arteries that connect Mill Woods to St. Albert, or Strathcona to West Edmonton Mall, then it’s worth exploring. Because while Edmonton doesn't need your approval, never did, it sure could use roads that don't make you feel like you're driving on the surface of the moon.
Catch Sarah and the crew breaking down why our roads are the way they are every morning on mornings.live.