A St. Vital man took matters into his own hands to try and fix his neighbourhood's mucky, pothole-filled gravel back lane.

Mike Touchette hauled in a load of gravel on Tuesday morning and dumped it in the back lane behind his home on Frederick Ave.

He said he tried calling 311 to get the problem fixed before hauling and dumping his own gravel, but nothing happened.

That's when he decided to do something about it himself.

"I put eight yards [of gravel] into a hole that was the size of a swimming pool," said Touchette. "I'll dump 10 yards in there every week if I have to."

On Friday morning, city crews were in the back lane with a grader and a load of gravel of their own to address the problem.

In an email, the city said when it becomes aware of a gravel back lane in poor condition, it’s put on a list to be graded to improve the driving surface. The city said gravel applications are part of the maintenance service.

Touchette doesn't think it's any coincidence the problem got fixed after he took matters into his own hands.

His neighbour Don McLean said he also called 311 and St. Vital Councillor Brian Mayes about the problem back in September.

McLean said the gravel back lane is in the worst shape he’s seen in 50 years living in the neighbourhood.

“It’s a real pain,” McLean said. “You wait until it freezes and then the city figures it’s paved.”

“I drive 60 miles of gravel road to the cottage and 60 miles back and when I get in here I get more crap on the truck than I do on that whole round trip.”

Whatever may have triggered the work, McLean’s happy to see something done about the problem, although he’s not sure how long the fix will last.

“Whether he did something, or whether it’s a combination, it’s hard to say,” McLean said.

The city’s Streets By-Law prohibits residents from dumping materials onto street without first getting permission from the Director of Public Works, but Touchette said he was left with no other choice.

The city said residents also have the option of initiating a Local Improvement process to get the gravel back lanes paved.

60 per cent of residents must support the plan. If approved, the city will subsidize 50 per cent of the cost.

McLean said not enough people on his street would support paving, which he estimates would cost homeowners around $4000 each.

“Most of the people have frontage, so they don’t care,” said McLean. “For a lot of people that’s a big expense even though they spend it over a few years.”

He said a big reason for all the problems is poor drainage.