Is the pothole situation in Toronto improving?
It’s hard to know, but the number of claims against the city for pothole damages is one way to examine the issue.
Motorists have the ability to file a claim with the city when a pothole causes damage to their vehicle.
Within 90 days of filing a claim, the city’s insurance adjusters will conduct an investigation to determine if the city is responsible for the loss. To be successful, a pothole must be deemed beyond a reasonable state of repair.
As of Wednesday, the city had received about 1,500 pothole damage claims since Jan. 1, 2024. The number is down significantly from 2023 when drivers filed 4,130 claims throughout the year.
So, why the dramatic dip?
Water expands and contracts as it freezes and thaws, which can crack roadways and pavement. The city said any change in the number of reported pothole damages this year can be attributed to the severity of the winter weather and the number of freeze-thaw cycles.
Weather conditions were much milder last winter, likely contributing to the lessened rate of pothole damage claims reported in 2024 — which has so-far seen the smallest number of reported claims since 2022.
In 2022, drivers filed over 3,570 pothole claims with the City of Toronto. The following year, 2023, saw the aforementioned 4,130 claims — the highest number reported in the last six years. In 2021, there were only 862 pothole damage claims filed.
It is currently undetermined how many pothole damage claims have been successful in 2024, as the city will release those numbers in the new year.
The city’s pothole repair program, which identifies the pesky road hazards through regular patrols and reports made by the public, said it fixed more than 258,000 potholes between Jan. 1 and Nov. 16.
That’s a higher repair rate than in the same period over the last four years.
City officials said, despite the lower number of overall pothole claims this year, the city is experiencing a backlog of damage reports from the period of severe rainstorms in July and August. As such, pothole claims currently filed with the city may take longer than 90 days to be processed.
Members of the public can report potholes to 311 via the Toronto mobile app, online at toronto.ca/311 or by calling 3-1-1.
Damage claims must be made within ten days of the incident.
