A week of above freezing temperatures has brought on an early pothole season in the city.
Winnipeg set a new record over the weekend – 67 consecutive hours above freezing, smashing the previous record of 44 hours from 2002.
Jim Berezowsky, The City of Winnipeg's manager of streets maintenance, said the early thaw means city crews are dealing with both snow clearing and potholes.
"Crews that are normally sanding and salting and providing plowing services, a lot of those are shifting over to providing pothole patching and repair,” he said.
City crews started with priority 1 and 2 routes, which are major roadways and bus routes. They’ll continue filling craters until temperatures plummet again.
Jeremy Cole, owner of Tony's Academy Auto Service, said he expects calls to start coming in for pothole-related repairs in the next week or so.
"With potholes you're looking at tires, tie rods, ball joints, coil springs, struts, alignments, anything that's wear and tear on the front-end,” he said.
Cole recommends booking early to avoid the rush, and not ignoring irregular noises.
“The radio goes up, but the noises don’t go away,” he said.
Manitoba Public Insurance said to minimize damage to your vehicle, you should take your foot off the brake, roll over the pothole at a low speed, and make sure you don't take your hands off the wheel to avoid losing control.
