The is an old riddle that goes something like this;
Patch upon patch,
Without any stitches,
Tell me the answer,
And I'll give you my breeches.
The most appropriate answer at present might well by Yorkton streets.
Or, perhaps we can just expand that to be a larger answer and include the whole of Saskatchewan.
It might just be the usual awareness of potholes which comes with spring, but it does seem the amount of holes upon streets and highways this year is more extensive than in any year in recent memory.
Whether the number is actually larger than usual, or it’s just a case of muddled memories caused by a bone-charring trip down any number of streets or stretches of area highway, the bottom line is that there are a lot of holes in the asphalt.
The reasons are varied for the conditions.
We can point to heavier truck traffic on rural highways. This is a result of the rail lines pulling up track, forcing farmers to haul to even larger inland grain terminals which are much further away. If farmers are on the road hauling long distances they want to make the trips worthwhile. Gone are the two ton trucks for which many miles of highway were originally built. In their place tag axle 18-wheelers.
The loss of branch line rail also puts other goods and services into semis being transported on highway asphalt, not rail beds which withstand almost anything.
Highway potholes are, at least in part, the legacy of the changes pushed onto rural Saskatchewan by grain companies moving to larger facilities, a process very much in lockstep with the loss of the aforementioned branch lines.
In the city itself part of the issue is simply the age of the asphalt.
Like sidewalks, sewer and water lines, many of the paved streets in Yorkton were installed decades ago.
Even with light car traffic asphalt has a life expectancy, and many streets are living on borrowed time, being past what was expected to be its useful life.
So besides the frustration of dodging potholes and paying for a few extra wheel alignments and tire balancings because we can’t miss them all, what is to be done about the condition of our streets and roads?
That of course is the mega million dollar question facing urban municipalities, and the province.
Locally the budget is stretched rather tightly already, so there can be little expectation of more than another patch upon patch for most potholes.
Provincially the forthcoming budget will not be one with huge new dollars for roads, or anything else, by the sounds of it.
And travel to Regina and look at the work started on a bypass system many have questioned from the get-go, and it’s pretty obvious the pothole woes of many rural highways will be addressed by throwing some new asphalt into the pit, and hoping it stays in place.
The situation is a rough one — literally — and there is little to suggest it will improve anytime soon.
