Last March, several drivers reached out to Speakers Corner asking us to visit what they argued was the worst street in the city when it came to potholes.
Deep craters dotted a long portion of Unwin Avenue, which runs from Cherry Beach to Tommy Thompson Park. The roadway, and pavement had been eroded entirely, which left several vehicles with costly repair bills.
It is now a very different story.
“As you can see now, we couldn’t be happier,” said Jason Singh, one of the several people who asked us to look into the problems there last spring.
Weeks after CityNews’ report on the conditions of the roadway, City crews not only repaired the road, they repaved it completely.
“They actually got it done way ahead of the deadline they told you when you reached out,” Singh said, citing a statement the City gave CityNews at the time of our report that the repairs would not take place until September.
“City staff were able to accelerate and complete the repaving of Unwin Avenue from Cherry Street to the Unwin Bridge through co-ordinating maintenance and repair activities that included road grading, ditch improvements, and road resurfacing work,” a City spokesperson told us when we followed up.
It’s one of many projects City road crews say they’ve worked to fix this summer after a brutal winter took its toll on streets and roadways.
As of September, 206,948 pot holes have been filled across the city – far more than the 202,250 that were filled in all of last year. Much of that is thanks to a 34 per cent increase in the city budget to respond to potholes and road repairs, jumping to $6.2M this year.
For those like Singh who travel on Unwin daily, it’s money well spent.
“Something had to be done here and maybe they don’t always listen but in this case they listened and did a great job,” he said.
If there’s a pothole or troubled area in your neighbourhood that remains unresolved, the City is still asking residents to report any road issue to 311.
If you have something you want to sound off about, contact us.
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