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Road crews have filled over 8,000 potholes in less than a month, city says

Road crews filled more than 8,000 potholes over a recent three-week period, a time city officials call the "highest pothole season" in four years.

The number of potholes in Toronto filled for the year is a whopping 124,297, said Myles Currie, director of the city's transportation services, on Thursday.

From March 26 to April 13, the number of potholes filled was 8,591.

According to the city, it costs up to $5 million a year to fix potholes in Toronto. Currie says they have already spent more than half the budget on repairs.

"We're trending quite a bit higher and that's really a result of freeze-thaw cycles that we saw earlier in the winter and this past weekend," he said.

Last year, city crews fixed more than 180,000 potholes. Currie predicts more than 200,000 potholes will be filled this year.

"Repairing potholes is an affordable way to maintain our roads," the city's transportation services division says on its website.

"Our crews routinely monitor road conditions and identify areas that need repairs. Road users and business owners can help by reporting potholes when you see them."

It says crews will repair potholes within four days of a report being received.

The Don Valley Parkway will be closed this weekend to allow crews to perform annual maintenance, including fixing potholes.

In a news release, the city said the DVP will be closed in both directions between Highway 401 and Highway 404 and the Gardiner Expressway from 11 p.m. Friday to 5 a.m. Monday.