'It completely destroyed my brand new tire': Potholes popping up after early winter thaw

Despite spring still being several weeks away, many Windsor motorists are already noticing major potholes around the city.

Officials credit an early freeze-thaw cycle, following an extended period of frigid January temperatures.

“I didn't think it was a big deal until I hit one and it completely destroyed my brand new tire,” said Windsor resident Mike, who didn’t want to share his last name, after sustaining tire damage on Kew Drive last weekend.

“We weren't speeding or anything,” he added. “It was just a nice leisurely drive, but it destroyed the tire for sure.”

Mike said he paid for repairs out of pocket and notified 3-1-1 where the pothole was, hoping to raise awareness about the new abundance of potholes on the city’s east side.

“Some people had actually started pouring cement in the holes, so they're sticking up which somebody could hit,” he said. “The holes are fairly deep and it would be akin to hitting a concrete curb at about 50 or 60 kilometers an hour.”

He added, “As everyone knows Lauzon Parkway has been under construction, so a lot of people have been using this as a side cut. There's a lot of heavy trucks that go through there, but there's also a religious temple back there. There's chiropractors, there's dentists, there's the Unemployed Help Center and the food bank. So it's not just an industrial area, even though there is a lot of industry there.”

According to Derek Kipping, manager at Kipping Tire and Automotive on Tecumseh Road East, many drivers in Windsor have been scheduling repairs since warmer weather moved in last week, creating big pothole problems.

“With that freeze we had and the thaw, all the potholes opened up,” Kipping explained. “Last week, Thursday and Friday when we had that thaw, we had a few vehicles that were down on Tecumseh Road and they were driving westbound and hit up a couple of potholes. There's a big one down the road and we had a few people pulling into the parking lot one after another.”

Kipping suggested some repairs could cost several hundred dollars if enough damage is sustained, and noted that potholes are to be expected this time of year.

A pothole is seen in Windsor, Ont. on Jan. 30, 2024. (Chris Campbell/CTV News Windsor)

“Best advice is just drive slow, be careful. Keep your eyes on road and sometimes you can't do anything but hit the pothole just slow and steady,” Kipping said.

Officials with the City of Windsor encourage anyone who encounters a pothole to report it to 3-1-1 so it can be filled, and said there is also an online damage claim form to submit if you believe the city is responsible. 

“I think first and foremost if there's any damage to their vehicle they should get the vehicle repaired,” explained Dana Paladino, the city’s acting commissioner of corporate services. “Some people are apprehensive and think that if I go ahead with a repair, is it going hurt my position in any way down the road and that's not the case.”

Paladino stressed that each claim is reviewed on a case-by-case basis and is not guaranteed.

“We're not an insurance company,” Paladino said. “So it's not an automatic as of right situation where you submit the claim form and then you get payment. That's not the case here. You submit a claim. We review it. We investigate each and every one of the claims that we receive, and we only pay where we believe there's liability to pay.”

She added, “We do look at the full picture from a liability and damages standpoint and then render a decision.”

Paladino told CTV News Windsor the number of recent claims related to potholes has increased, and said a risk management report detailing the extent of last year’s pothole problem is expected before council in the near future.

In the meantime, she advised anyone filing a claim to hang onto receipts.

“Volume wise, most of our claims are probably pothole claims. I think that's the highest category. But payout wise, they're probably one of the smallest because one we don't pay them all. Like any of our claims, we don't pay any claims automatically and that's one big misconception out there.”

“Because we're always sort of hovering back and forth around zero, we see potholes happening almost instantaneously,” she added.