These days, Frank Bichlmeier makes a point of driving below the speed limit.

Pothole-pocked roads have the Blue Line taxi driver shell-shocked about what wheel-busting crater lurks around the corner.

"We're dodging them all the time," said Bichlmeier, who has driven a taxi for more than 30 years. "It's pathetic."

Last week, another cabbie who shares the minivan he drives hit a soupy hole in Westdale that destroyed a rim and jarred the alignment.

"I slow down because I know they're there," Bichlmeier said.

Roads are already rough, but the city is expecting a spike in pothole complaints as winter continues to melt its icy embrace.

"I am anticipating an increase in numbers based on the thaw we've just gone through," Darrell Smith, the city's manager of roads and maintenance, said Monday.

Last year, from Jan. 1 to March 12, the city fielded 1,252 pothole calls. In the same period this year, that figure is 263.

During the last brutal winter, roads became dotted with potholes over a longer span, but this year, the freeze-thaw cycle has been more concentrated, Smith noted.

And pothole-related business is hitting its stride at CRS Automotive.

The King Street East shop is fielding five to six calls a week for maladies ranging from busted rims to bent suspensions to wonky steering, with bills running as high as $4,000, says mechanic Ali Ghaddar.

"Last year and this year are the worst years in memory."

Several customers have said they're hoping the city picks up their tab, says shop manager Brian Beynon.

"There's not a day goes by that I don't have a customer that's told me, 'Everything was fine until I hit that pothole I didn't see until the last minute.'"

As of Sunday, the city had received 62 pothole claims, but that number is expected to rise "significantly."

"Spring is generally a busy time of year for pothole claims, particularly after a bad winter," said John McLennan, the city's manager of risk management services.

In 2014, there were 411 claims, 98 in 2013 and 60 in 2012.

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The city denies "the majority" of pothole claims, McLennan said, noting damage is often "avoidable through defensive driving and driving the speed limit."

Common complaints are ruined tires, dented rims, broken exhausts and damaged suspensions, with the average damage claim between $200 and $800. The worst mine field for claims is Burlington Street.

Public works has launched a pothole-filling "blitz," with a priority on higher-speed and greater-volume roads, Smith said.

After those, such as the particularly riddled and frost-heaved Burlington and Barton streets, crews will shift to less transited and lower-speed roads.

"It does take time. It's not something we can accomplish overnight," Smith said, noting the "blitz" will take four to six weeks to complete before secondary filling occurs.

The city spends about $2.6 million on potholes every year.

But keeping roads smooth isn't a simple patch-up job for the cash-crunched Hamilton, says Coun. Sam Merulla.

The city is saddled with a nearly $3-billion infrastructure backlog and hamstrung by downloaded provincial and federal responsibilities, says Merulla, who chairs the public works committee.

"The funding formula for municipalities right now is broken. It should be fixed. We need a new deal."

Potholes

A pothole is a hole that forms when moisture enters a crack in the pavement, freezes and expands in the cold. When the moisture expands, it puts pressure on the crack, which causes the asphalt to break away.

Source: City of Burlington



•To make a claim, submit a letter to: City of Hamilton, Risk Management Services, 21 King Street West, Suite 1101, Hamilton, Ontario L8P 4W7, Fax: 905-540-5744

•The letter should note the exact location of the pothole or road hazard and when the incident happened.

•For the city to be deemed negligent, "damages must be shown to have been caused by a failure to provide a reasonable degree of care in the provision of services or infrastructure."

•A risk management claim investigation typically takes three to five weeks.

•Take your car to a licensed mechanic and don't keep driving it if it's not operating properly.

•For information about claims, call risk management at 905-546-2424, ext. 5742.

•To report potholes or hazards in Hamilton, call public works at 905-546-2489.

•To report potholes in Burlington, visit www.burlington.ca/pothole

Source: Cities of Burlington and Hamilton

