By Kim Moar - The Weekly News
There's a lot less shaking, rattling and rolling on the roads these days.
That's because our unusually stable winter has produced a lot fewer potholes than we would normally see at this time of year.
Gordon Hayward, manager of public works for HRM, said there was a lot less freezing and thawing this past winter, which is what causes potholes to appear.
"This winter we just didn't have those sort of freeze/thaw cycles. It got cold and it stayed cold for the most part. There were not a whole lot of rise and falls," Hayward said.
While we may yet be in for more snow, Hayward said the frost is now out of the ground, so in terms of potholes, what we see is pretty much what we're going to get, for this year.
Hayward said because of the good weather, public works crews were able to stay ahead of the game by patching problem areas before they got worse.
"That helped mitigate the damages and significantly helped us through the winter," he said.
Maria Wilson, owner of the Meineke Car Care Centre on St. Margaret's Bay Road, has noticed fewer customers coming into the shop with problems with their shocks and suspension, but attributed that to an overall lack of snow this winter.
"If there's fewer potholes, that makes sense," Wilson said.
While HRM's snow-clearing budget was in the red earlier this year, the lack of the white stuff lately is helping.
"They recognize snow clearing as a corporate risk ... but certainly since the beginning of March, the meter hasn't been running as fast," Hayward said.
kmoar@hfxnews.ca
