A vehicle goes by potholes on Third Street SW near Division Avenue on March 21, 2023. (Photo Courtesy Chris Brown)

By Chris Brown

Potholes being filled as quickly as possible

Freeze-thaw cycles make potholes a constant battle for Medicine Hat road crews

Mar 21, 2023 | 3:41 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Seen from above Medicine Hat might look like a game of the arcade classic Frogger. Except instead of frogs crossing the street while dodging vehicles, it’s the vehicles on the street dodging potholes.

Yes, it’s pothole season in Medicine Hat.

It’s been a constant battle for City of Medicine Hat road crews.

“We have crews out every day probably for the last month. Right now we’ve got crews starting at 4 a.m,” says Jeremy Petryshyn, manager of surface for city assets. “So we had three crews this morning at 4 a.m. going around adjusting our main roads. They’ll work all week starting at 4 a.m. and then we continue throughout the day with crews. It’s one of our main focuses right now is pothole repair.”

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He says crews are dispatched to potholes as soon as possible after reports from motorists and residents based on his department’s own monitoring of city streets.

Sometimes they have to return to an area like the intersection of Third Street and Division Avenue multiple times while new potholes are also appearing throughout the city.

Petryshyn says they’re seeing more potholes this spring than in past years because of the constant freeze-thaw cycles of the past month

“This spring for the last month or so we’ve had daytime heating getting up and melting snow which causes water to enter our roadways. It gets in the cracks of the roadway and then at night when it freezes it expands and that causes the potholes,” he explains.

Petryshyn says you can report potholes by calling municipal works at 403-529-8177, emailing mw@medicinehat.ca or through the City of Medicine Hat’s Report-a-Problem portal.

He adds potholes can appear quickly from day to day and advises motorists to slow down and always pay attention to the road ahead.