Take me home, bumpy roads: Cracked-up streets rack up more than 100 complaints a day

Calgary's roads have more potholes than usual right now, and drivers are noticing.

Complaints to the City of Calgary about potholes and roadway repairs have gone way up this year. From April 1 to the morning of May 31, there have been 6,267 requests for pothole or roadway maintenance recorded through Calgary's 311 service. And that tally doesn't include duplicate complaints made by citizens about the same pothole.

Regardless, that's a new record for most complaints in a single quarter, and there's still a month to go.

"There are more potholes this year than we've seen historically," Chris Hewitt, manager for mobility maintenance for the city, told CBC News.

"We had a pretty perfect storm of various things over the winter which have led to a situation where you would expect more potholes than in previous years."

Hewitt says a variety of factors play into why Calgary's pothole situation is worse than what's typically expected in the spring.

"We had a number of freeze-thaw cycles over the winter and that's really your No.1  kind of lead into potholes come spring," he said.

"You get water into the road, it's freezing up, it's doing that 10, 20, 30 times over the winter … it does cause havoc under the roads."

Another challenge for the city this year has been the spring snowfall.

Typically, the city is able to repair potholes throughout February and March, but the inconsistent winter season stuck around until near mid-April.

What's more, Hewitt says the overall pavement quality index (PQI) has decreased, adding another layer of stress to Calgary's roads.

CBC News previously reported that, since 2015, the city's PQI has gradually declined following budget cuts over the past few years. That led to city council approving a $23-million investment over 2024-26 for road maintenance.

"Any of the savings that we have seen from snow removal gets put directly towards fixing potholes and road maintenance in our city," Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek told reporters at City Hall on Tuesday.

This year, the amount of money left over from the snow budget comes to $8.9 million, according to the city's mobility department.

But the money Gondek referred to is directed to fund road repairs in general — not just potholes — in 2024 and 2025. A large portion of the windfall snow savings will go toward Calgary's annual paving programs.

Potholes and damage to vehicles

For drivers who hit potholes, sometimes it's more than just a bumpy ride.

Kobe Gallagher Tulloch is a student who moved to Calgary from B.C. for university a few years ago. Just last week, Gallagher Tulloch hit a pothole in the downtown core that destroyed his front right tire.

"Hitting a pothole in the middle of that traffic density was actually really awful to deal with. There was nowhere for me to park," he said, adding the pothole he hit was on Fourth Street S.W. underneath a train overpass.

Eventually, he pulled over in the nearest parking lot so he could scope out the damage, which is when he heard the last bit of air hissing out of his tire.

"Luckily, I am equipped with the tools, I keep a summer tire on me, keep a carjack," he said.

Calgary university student Kobe Gallagher Tulloch hit a pothole downtown that damaged the front right tire and rim. (Submitted by Kobe Gallagher Tulloch)

Adding insult to injury, he also got a parking ticket while changing his tire, he says.

"Maybe I should have paid to change my tire. It was not my priority, you know, in that state and time. But I'm not mad about it. It just sucked," he said.

Gallagher Tulloch says he's fortunate to have been prepared, but it's not always a simple fix for everyone.

"For a lot of Calgarians, this is happening on the way to work. This is happening when they don't have spare tires in their vehicle because they can't afford them," Gallagher Tulloch said.

This is the second time hitting a pothole in Calgary has damaged Gallagher Tulloch's vehicle. The first was on Deerfoot Trail, a provincially maintained highway, during the winter.

While potholes on provincial roads can't be fixed by the city, any issues with city roads can be reported to 311. Damage to vehicles can be reported to the city, too, by filing a damage claim (though this type of loss is generally not covered by the city).

Hewitt hopes Calgarians can keep the pothole complaints coming, because once the city is notified about a pothole, the repair process can begin.

The bulk of the requests so far this year — 149, excluding duplicates, as of May 31 — came from the Glenmore Park area, which includes a stretch of Glenmore Trail that's responsible for most of the pothole complaints.

This is also the road that's seen the most repairs this year, according to the city's pothole map, with 187 potholes filled as of May 31.

When it comes to pothole repairs, Hewitt says 2023 had the most ever.

"We actually filled just over 33,000 potholes, which was a record for us. If you were to look at five or so years prior to that, you'd have an average of 21,000 to 22,000 per year."

Hewitt said the city has fixed roughly 9,000 potholes so far this year, as of the end of May. This same time last year, that number was below 7,000.

"But there's a heightened sensitivity to it right now, and it's great," he said. "We want to hear from the public. We want to know where these are and what people are seeing. That really helps us address them."

To report a pothole, dial 311, use the 311 app or go to calgary.ca/potholes.