Pothole season

A lot of commuters had a bumpy ride back and forth to work Monday. After the weekend thaw, nearly everywhere you drive potholes are a problem. The combination of cold then warm weather are ideal conditions for the road hazards to form. And those troublesome road craters can cause serious damage to your vehicle.

City of Hamilton crews are battling what seems like a never ending problem; pot holes.

Mike Christian is with the City of Hamilton: “There’s gotta be thousands at this point with the freeze, and thaw, freeze and thaw, with the plows going by it’s obviously going to scrape up the material we already put down.”

The fight against potholes involves laying down fresh asphalt, and then rolling it flat. There were three crews pulling around these “hot boxes” Monday.

Mike says: “Well, we’re going to try and get through all the main drags and get as many filled as we possibly can, and then head into the secondarys when we feel we have control on that.”

“Just to see how bad the potholes in Hamilton are, I’m going to attach a small camera to my news cruiser, and go for a drive.”

This stretch along scenic drive is littered with potholes of all sizes, including giant craters like this one.

I stopped and put my camera in it, just to show you how deep it is.

Jeff Hunt is with Beech Motorworks: “The impact is hit by your tire and rim, and when your tire and rim bend, bad things happen.”

Jeff says pot holes can do a lot of damage to your car: “Besides the rim and tire, the impact is always taken by the tie rods, which could potentially bend, if one is loose it’ll just pop it out of the socket.”

This rim fell victim to a pot hole. The repairs to your tires and car’s suspension can add up quickly.

Jeff says: “Potentially could be up to thousands of dollars, depending on what components are gone, rims and tires alone you’re talking a couple hundred dollars.”

If you do run into a pot hole that damages your car, the City of Hamilton has a department that handles, and investigates pot hole claims.