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Highway potholes under ministry jurisdiction

The District of Lake Country doesn’t touch the highway when it comes to filling potholes
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Potholes are numerous in Lake Country like this one on Newene Road. In an online poll conducted by The Calendar at www.lakecountrycalendar.com, residents said Winfield had the worst potholes out of the wards in the district. - Credit: Carli Berry/Capital News

With the mixing of warm and cold weather, potholes are forming on the roads in Lake Country.

Road superintendent Aron Chatton said the number of potholes seen around the district is a standard amount, but those on the highway are under the province’s jurisdiction.

“We’ve had a lot of complaints about the accesses to the highway, we’ve had some bad ones coming right off and on it,” he said.

He listed Okanagan Centre Road West and Berry Road intersections as a few places the district knows about, but can only pass along to the ministry.

“If you’re on a highway, because of the volume, there are different regulations and it’s a safety issue for us,” said Chatton.

Frost doesn’t help with the pothole situation either.

“With the warmer weather and the frost starts to come out, the freezing and expansion and contraction starts to move everything… and it tends to pop out the patches as well. Over the winter there’s no hot mix asphalt available,” he said.

The City of Kelowna has two recycling machines to recycle asphalt but that’s an aspiration for the District of Lake Country, which relies on a plant that operates from April to November.

The district uses a temporary cold mix but it doesn’t bond as well to the roads in the winter.

“We usually buy 80 to 100 tons of cold mix every fall,” said Chatton.

District staff patrols various roads, and when people call and report the potholes, the district can patch the holes in about 15 minutes, weather and traffic permitting.

Residents can report potholes on the district’s website at https://forms.lakecountry.bc.ca/Administration/Report-a-Problem.

The City of Kelowna has been dealing with an increasing number of potholes, up from 336 last year to 2,000.

Aside from fixing potholes, staff will begin construction to improve the Oceola Road roundabout at the end of April. Work on Pelmewash Parkway is set to being at the beginning of April.

To report a typo, email: edit@kelownacapnews.com.

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