Olivia Chow is prepared to spend $6.2 million on Toronto’s pothole problem
The city is planning a “blitz” to fill them, just as soon as roads are clear enough
We haven’t taken precise measurements, but the city’s potholes seem more cavernous than in past winters. They’re everywhere, too, and some of them look like they could cause real damage to people walking and cycling or to vehicles passing over them.
Related: Please don’t walk on the Toronto Harbour ice
If you’re a driver, you’ve probably narrowly avoided plunging into one in recent days. It’s bad!
Fortunately, Mayor Olivia Chow has noticed them, too, and she is on the case, as she promised she would be back when she took office. “Mother Nature hasn’t given us a break, but as soon as there is an opportunity, city crews will do a blitz,” she posted to X. “Last year we filled more than 250,000 potholes and I have increased the budget from $5.5 million to $6.2 million for 2026.”
That’s a lot of money, but there are a lot of potholes out there wreaking havoc on the roads.
The mayor’s post said she understands the frustration drivers feel given how damaging potholes can be, and added that 29 crews are out today repairing them. At an unrelated news conference, according to CTV News, Mayor Chow said, “There are some outrageously big ones. They eat your tire and they wreck your alignment. I personally have seen it, and some of these potholes are gigantic.”
Crews have filled 21,230 potholes this year, according to data published on the city’s website, where you can also find a helpful explanation as to what causes potholes in the first place: “Potholes are created when water penetrates the top layer of asphalt through cracks in the road. After the moisture freezes and expands, sections of the pavement are forced up. The weight of vehicles going over this section of road breaks the pavement and the asphalt is forced out,” it says.
Chow attributed the potholes to fluctuating temperatures and a “brutal” winter.
The city aims to fix potholes within four days of reports to 311, as long as the roads are clear enough. Until crews can get out for said blitz, Chow advised Torontonians to be aware of them, and promised they’ll be fixed soon.
Related: The city gave out more than $2 million in snow route parking tickets after January’s major storm
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
