Potholes can develop on any of the 15,000 lane km of paved streets and 2,900 lane km of backlanes in Calgary. Potholes form when snow melts into cracks in the asphalt and then freezes, expanding in the cracks. Meanwhile, the frost in the ground pushes up, weakening the asphalt.
The annual pothole repair program is an essential part of keeping traffic moving safely and efficiently through the city.
Locating potholes
You can help
To help locate and make repairs quickly, call 3-1-1 to report potholes or report the pothole using an online service request.
Incidental reporting
Roads inspects city roadways throughout the year to identify areas that need pavement repairs.
- Major roads are inspected twice a month.
- Collector roads are inspected once a month.
- Residential roads rely on 3-1-1 reports from residents and on incidental reporting by field crews.
When a pothole is identified, it is assessed and assigned a severity. The severity scale is rated from 1 to 5, with 5 being the most severe. The most severe potholes are scheduled to be repaired first.
Repairing potholes
Repairing potholes is a major part of Roads' continual maintenance of Calgary's roadways. In order to permanently fix potholes, dry pavement and warm weather conditions are needed. Pothole repair generally begins in April and goes throughout the summer months.
During our pothole repair program, crews are out working seven days a week. Each of our seven maintenance districts has a pothole crew with a prioritized repair list for that district. The majority of repairs are done during the day, but repairs on major roads are often done at night when there is less traffic.
