Potholes the size of a small bathtub on B.C.'s Coquihalla Highway concern drivers

A Kamloops, B.C., adult female says she’s worried someone could die out as a ensue of hitting 1 of the big potholes on the Coquihalla Highway between the Lower Mainland and B.C.’s southern interior.

And she's not alone with her worry. Others who drive Highway 5, including a longhaul trucker, are sounding the alarm on the sometimes bathtub-sized holes. 

Kari-Anne Flatmark hit a pothole and blew her tire out on the Coquihalla about four kilometres from Hope, B.C., on Jan. 10. It happened just after she noticed another driver on the side of the road, changing a tire.

“[It’s] this huge hole ... It was like we got shot … the biggest bang ever."

She had been driving 100 km/h when the impact happened. Her daughter screamed. Although they were not injured, Flatmark spent about $1,000 on new tires and repairs.

“We were lucky,” she said. “Somebody will die. Honest to God, I believe that somebody will hit that pothole [and] lose control.”

Two of the potholes are the size of a "small bathtub" says Dave Duncan, the manager of Yellowhead Road and Bridge.

The company is responsible for maintaining a 140-kilometre stretch of the Coquihalla, from northeast of Hope to Lac Le Jeune on the Thompson Plateau, north of Merritt, B.C.

Duncan says fixing winter potholes is a daily job on the highway and this winter his crews have fixed the same holes “50 or 60 times” due to freeze-thaw conditions that continually damage the asphalt.

“Even with the best efforts, a pothole can reform every single day,” he said.

Longhaul trucker Harman Sidhu hit a line of potholes on the Coquihalla earlier this month and also destroyed a tire.

“There was no warning, no reduced speed [sign], nothing,” he wrote in an email.

“As soon as I hit the pothole, I thought I’d hit a brick wall ... The entire highway is a joke."

Still more drivers have been arriving at the Kal Tire store in Merritt, needing repairs due to the potholes.

Assistant manager Jordan Pinto says recently, six or seven people have been coming in each day. Some describe potholes that are eight feed wide and four feet deep, he adds.

They're “pretty frantic when they show up,” he said.

“This is unusual, this is different from typical years.”

Pinto says blowing a tire is a safety risk because the driver can easily lose control of their vehicle.

Duncan says large amounts of snow on sections of the Coquihalla since December — and then the melting of that snow — is causing a freeze-thaw cycle resulting in potholes.

As temperatures rise, the snow melts. The water then seeps into cracks on the asphalt, only to freeze and expand when temperatures drop, he explained.

“The ice starts to pop and chip away at pieces of the asphalt, and then you get potholes forming. And once they start to form they can be a real challenge all winter long,” he said.

To fill potholes, Duncan says his crews use a type of asphalt designed for colder temperatures. But, that wintertime product, he says, isn’t as durable as a permanent patch in the summer.

"Drivers are reminded to drive according to conditions and be aware of changing conditions, including potholes,” it added.

Jason Peters is a journalist based in Prince George, B.C., on the territory of the Lheidli T'enneh. He can be reached at jason.peters@cbc.ca.

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