Potholes are costing Canadians billions. But there are some solutions

Dylan Langille is very familiar with the swerves it takes to dodge the potholes of Halifax. 

"I could probably close my eyes on my commute back to my house, and I could avoid the pothole because they've been there for so long," Langille told the Cost of Living. 

"What are you supposed to do when there are potholes every 10 feet here."

Langille, 30, is a radio announcer and content creator. He's milked the pothole hate on his TikTok account, including attempting to fish and golf using local potholes. 

"Just like putting on real green, I came up short," he said. 

Langille is one of many Canadian drivers who have to deal with potholes on a daily basis. It has municipalities spending millions on maintenance, and drivers making frequent trips to the mechanic.

But there are some new solutions emerging to this old and growing problem — from using artificial intelligence to monitor for the holes, to changing the road surface itself.

The main culprit for all the potholes in Canada is all the freezing and thawing roads go through, says Nemy Banthia, a professor of civil engineering at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. 

Moisture from rain and melting snow seeps under the road and freezes. That causes the ground to expand. When it gets warmer during the day, the ground shrinks back down, leaving a bulge in the road. Then, when people drive over it, it cracks. 

"As the wheels go over it, they will take some of this broken off material and a pothole is formed, right there and there," said Banthia.

And it's getting worse, for a number of reasons. Banthia says that climate change has contributed to more of these rapid freeze and thaw cycles, and brought more intense rain. 

Plus, there are about a million more registered vehicles in Canada now than six years ago.

"And we have not kept up on the innovation side to manage our pavements," said Banthia.

The economic impact of potholes is being felt across the country. According to a 2021 study published by the Canadian Automobile Association, Canadian drivers incur extra costs of $126 annually per vehicle because of poor road quality, which totals to $3 billion for Canadian drivers every year.