Early return of potholes on Saint John, N.B. streets, bridges

The early return of pothole season has closed a lane on Saint John’s Harbour Bridge.

Repairs on the bridge began Wednesday and will continue into next week, depending on the weather, according the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure, which maintains the span. The province says the bridge’s westbound lane will be closed to allow those repairs to happen.

Elsewhere around Saint John, city crews are busy juggling pothole repairs alongside the continuing cleanup of two storms last week and preparations for another weather system arriving Thursday night.

“We’re just switching from one type of operation to another in response to those,” says Tim O’Reilly, the city’s director of public works.

The pothole repairs have been made more complicated due to changing temperatures and water on the ground.

“Water is not very good for pothole patching,” says O’Reilly. “Asphalt doesn’t stick really well into the holes when we put asphalt in with the water.”

“The melting snow, the water on the road helps prevent some good affixation of the pothole patches when we patch them.”

Demand has also been growing for tire repairs over the last week.

“For the most part, they’re coming in with at least one, sometimes two tires, with the sidewalls blown out and usually the rims are bent as well,” says Jason Grass of Saint John’s Old Town Tire Auto. “If it’s an aluminum rim, it’s usually not fixable, steel wheels we can usually bang back with a hammer and get the dents out and make them whole again. They’re usually buying at least one tire.”