A large pothole on a busy South Surrey route caused chaos for commuters Friday morning.

The pothole, on 16 Avenue just west of 192 Street, caused flat tires for a number of vehicles during the morning commute; according to reports, as many as a dozen cars were pulled over on the shoulder of the road at one time.

However, by shortly after 9 a.m., City of Surrey road crews were on the scene fixing the issue.

Ray Kerr, the city鈥檚 manager of engineering operations, told Peace Arch News that it was too early to tell if this winter鈥檚 cold snap would result in more road damage than in an average year.

鈥淎t this point, I think it鈥檚 probably par for the course, and it鈥檚 a little too early to tell (if it鈥檚 worse) because we aren鈥檛 through the winter season yet,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I can tell you that as soon as we鈥檙e made aware of them, we endeavour to get out there as quick as we can and repair them.鈥�

鈥淭he last couple weeks we鈥檝e been dealing with quite a bit, in terms of winter maintenance鈥� and now that we鈥檝e dealt with the snow, we鈥檙e going to have staff out on Saturday to deal with a large number of these potholes.

鈥淎fter the last two to three weeks of cold winter weather, there are a large number of potholes that have already been repaired, and others that subsequently will be.

鈥淲e鈥檒l get to them as quick as we can.鈥�

Potholes are more common in winter months, because with freezing temperatures, water on and under the road surface causes the asphalt to expand and contract, which in turn breaks the surface and causes potholes to appear.

sports@peacearchnews.com
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