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Kelowna  

Busiest machine in town

You won’t see it anywhere else but on the streets of Kelowna. It will be busy year round, but works the hardest in the winter when nothing else can.

The two Porta-Patch machines owned by the City of Kelowna are the only two in the entire Okanagan. Often the machines and crew are contracted out to areas such as Lake Country or even the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to patch potholes in roads, but this year there is too much work to be done in our city.

Ken Mintram, an equipment operator with the city, says his crew has been very busy this winter patching holes on roads due to the inconsistent freeze-thaw pattern this season.

“We’ve had so many snowfalls, it would melt and asphalt doesn’t like water.”

While the machines and the crew are able to work in extreme heat or cold conditions, they must avoid water. The area they work on must be dry and clean for the best outcome.

“We will fill if it’s wet but chances are we will be back the next day if it freezes because it will just pop out, so clean and dry are perfect conditions,” he said.

The machine costs approximately $30 an hour to operate, but according to the Roadways Operations Supervisor Stephen Bryans, it is very efficient.

Asphalt is not only reused once it’s dug up on scene but the asphalt not used in the summer is also accumulated into a large pile to be used in the winter to repair potholes. According to Mintram, asphalt plants close in the winter making it impossible for other companies without a Porta-Patcher to do the job. 

“We either do potholes all day or we do a lot of work for utilities, like Fortis gas because we are they only ones who can do this in the winter time,” explained Mintram.

The crew is called out to areas of the greatest need, and in this city that means everywhere.

“The whole city has got potholes,” laughed Mintram.

Service requests are sent to the city by the public and then delegated to the crew. Mintram said the city will often have its own issues with roads that need to be dealt with first, such as Benvoulin, where the crew spent most of Wednesday working.



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