Doing the 'Pothole Dodge'

Photo: The Canadian Press

Mechanic Ed Hearn has never seen anything quite like the aluminum rim that split apart after a Volvo SUV hit a pothole in St. John's, N.L., this week.

It's an especially brutal example of the damage this time of year brings to rims and tires across much of Canada. But the temperature swings in Newfoundland and Labrador are blamed for an even more extreme toll on roads.

"I've been living here all my life and every year it's the same thing: pothole, pothole, pothole," Hearn said during a busy day at the Morris Service Station.

His co-worker, Wayne Dinn, agreed as he held up the ravaged Volvo rim with a shake of his head.

Social media in the city also lit up Tuesday night when several vehicles hit a deep gouge in a pockmarked stretch of local highway named for curling champion Brad Gushue.

Construction on the Team Gushue Highway began in St. John's after the Gushue rink won gold at the Torino Winter Olympics in 2006. It is still incomplete after repeated delays and there's growing concern about the state of the finished section.

"It's a disaster," said George Murphy, a former NDP provincial member. He was on the road Tuesday night. It was getting dark and rain was filling the potholes as a driver in the oncoming southbound lane almost lost control, he said.

"This was after hitting this monstrous pothole. It's a good thing he wasn't in my lane because I had just dodged several."

"The pavement is degraded to the point now in both lanes that I figure they should just close the highway and not use it at all until it's properly fixed — it's that much of a danger."