Kelowna crews shift from snow clearing to pothole patching

The plows and sanding trucks are parked after a busy few weeks earlier this month, and now the pothole patching crews are hard at work.

The deep freeze that set in over the Okanagan Valley in late December and early January was followed by a quick thaw. That caused a lot of pavement to crumble and erupt.

Over the weekend, AIMRoads was filling a series of potholes heading down Highway 97 from West Kelowna onto the Bennett Bridge, and from Airport Way and Oceola Road between Kelowna and Lake Country.

The City of Kelowna dispatched a pothole repair crew as soon as it warmed up enough.

“Staff respond to potholes the minute weather conditions allow them to do so. The current weather conditions, while not ideal with all the water around, will allow for patching. We currently have one crew responding to potholes repairs. Repairs are prioritized by impact potential, with the larger potholes receiving priority. Remember that pothole repair requests for Highway 33 and 97 will need to be directed to MoTi,” said Geert Bos, public works manager

As well, late last summer, the city started testing an automated pothole detection system. It records pothole locations from a vehicle-mounted camera system, and dispatches crews, who can use the information to cluster repairs by area. Between September and November, it detected more than 300 potholes.

You can also report road craters by submitting a service request online through the City of Kelowna's website.