Potholes are costing Canadians billions. But there are some solutions
Philip Drost
| CBC Radio | Posted: June 7, 2025 8:00 AM | Last Updated: June
7
Self-healing roads and AI detection are innovations in the
fight against pesky potholes
Image | Potholes in Winnipeg
Caption: The main reason for all the potholes in Canada is all
the freezing and thawing roads go through. (CBC)
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Media Audio | Cost of Living : Why potholes are money pits
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Dylan Langille is very familiar with the swerves it takes to
dodge the potholes of Halifax.
"I could probably close my eyes on my commute back to my house,
and I could avoid the pothole because they've been there for so
long," Langille told the Cost of Living.
"What are you supposed to do when there are potholes every 10
feet here."
Langille, 30, is a radio announcer and content creator. He's
milked the pothole hate on his TikTok account, including
attempting to fish and golf using local potholes.
"Just like putting on real green, I came up short," he said.
Langille is one of many Canadian drivers who have to deal with
potholes on a daily basis. It has municipalities spending
millions on maintenance, and drivers making frequent trips to
the mechanic.
But there are some new solutions emerging to this old and
growing problem — from using artificial intelligence to monitor
for the holes, to changing the road surface itself.
* Pothole problems: Here's how you can protect your car and
your wallet
* CAA names 10 worst roads in Saskatchewan
How the holes form
The main culprit for all the potholes in Canada is all the
freezing and thawing roads go through, says Nemy Banthia, a
professor of civil engineering at the University of British
Columbia in Vancouver.
Moisture from rain and melting snow seeps under the road and
freezes. That causes the ground to expand. When it gets warmer
during the day, the ground shrinks back down, leaving a bulge
in the road. Then, when people drive over it, it cracks.
"As the wheels go over it, they will take some of this broken
off material and a pothole is formed, right there and there,"
said Banthia.
WATCH | What does the weather have to do with how bad potholes
will be?
Media Video | What does the weather have to do with how bad
potholes will be?
Caption: If you need someone to blame for those pesky potholes
that emerge in spring, look no farther than Mother Nature. The
weather in Manitoba has a significant impact on how bad the
roads will be when the temperature warms up. Watch CBC Manitoba
weather specialist Riley Laychuk explain why.
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And it's getting worse, for a number of reasons. Banthia says
that climate change has contributed to more of these rapid
freeze and thaw cycles, and brought more intense rain.
Plus, there are about a million more registered vehicles in
Canada now than six years ago.
"And we have not kept up on the innovation side to manage our
pavements," said Banthia.
What it costs
The economic impact of potholes is being felt across the
country. According to a 2021 study published by the Canadian
Automobile Association, Canadian drivers incur extra costs of
$126 annually per vehicle because of poor road quality, which
totals to $3 billion for Canadian drivers every year.
That includes vehicle repairs, higher maintenance, and other
operating expenses, the study says.
And municipalities are paying big bucks, too.
In Edmonton, the city spent $5.9 million on pothole repair back
in 2015. That budget is up to $11 million this year, which is
the highest of any major city in Canada.
In 2024, crews repaired a total of 537,305 potholes. They've
fixed 91,020 so far this year.
Image | POTHOLES
Caption: Potholes mean a lot of work for municipalities, who
have to spend millions to repair the roads. (Chelsea Kemp/CBC)
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"I wouldn't say that Edmonton is the pothole capital of Canada,
but I think we probably are the pothole filling capital of
Canada," said city councillor Andrew Knack.
In Saskatoon, city crews repaired over 50,000 potholes in 2024,
according to the City of Saskatoon's Roadways Department.
That's 52 per cent more than the previous year.
But the increased cost isn't just because there are more
potholes. Materials and labour also cost more.
And Matthew Fair says it's something that needs to be dealt
with, and not just because it can come with a big bill. He is
the head of maintenance operations in Durham, Ont., which means
it's his job to make sure the potholes get fixed.
"If you hit a large enough pothole, it's public safety. Like
you can lose control, it can cause an accident," said Fair.
Can we fix it?
People have tried all sorts of clever ways to draw attention to
the plight caused by potholes. In New Brunswick, a concerned
citizen filled in holes with soil and flowers, which were
promptly run over.
* Planting flowers in potholes is this N.B. man's way of
coping with crumbling road
* 'You've got to have a laugh,' says British man who put fake
legs in pothole
In the U.K., a British man built a pair of denim-clad wooden
legs and erected them in the middle of a rain-filled hole.
In Durham, they use AI software called CityRover. Installed on
a smartphone and mounted on the window of their maintenance
vehicle, it can detect and log potholes that need fixing.
Image | Nasonworth pothole plants
Caption: People find all sorts of clever ways to draw attention
to potholes, including filling them in with flowers. (Shane
Fowler/CBC)
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"If they are not detected and left too long, it can lead to
larger, more expensive types of restorations to the roadway. So
if we catch these potholes early, it saves us money in the long
run," said Fair.
But according to Banthia, there are long-term solutions too.
"We need to start building roads with more innovation in them
so that not only these things last longer, they also have lower
carbon footprint," said Banthia.
He says one of those solutions is to create roads that are
crack-resistant. In Surrey, B.C., they tried a more flexible
type of pavement that will potentially last much longer.
Then there are what's known as "self-healing roads" — a
technology that might sound like science fiction, but it's
real, says Banthia.
He's worked with Chawathil First Nation near Hope, B.C., and
the village of Thondebhavi, in Karnataka, India, where they
used a fibre-reinforced concrete that's designed to fill in the
cracks as they form, creating a more long lasting road.
Image | Potholes April 2024 Highway 102 Halifax
Caption: Potholes on Highway 102 outbound in Halifax. Dylan
Langille says he knows the Halifax potholes all too well.
(Anjuli Patil/CBC)
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The road in Thondebhavi was paved in 2015, and when Banthia
went for a visit last year, he said the road was completely
crack- and pothole-free.
Banthia hopes more places in Canada will apply some of these
innovations. He understands that the first-time costs for these
are higher, but he says it could save money long term.
"If we can actually do something so that we can not target just
innovation but also make sure that our first-time costs are
lower, I think that would actually make the technology far more
attractive for the industry," said Banthia.
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