The City of Sarnia Public Works Department has been busy trying to repair potholes popping up on city streets.
Potholes form when moisture seeps into small cracks into the road freezing and expanding and lifting the road surface.
The craters can also form when the moisture thaws and melts away leaving a void under the lifted portion of roads and when plows and tires hit the lifted portion, collapsing the road into the void.
General Manger of Engineering and Operations David Jackson said there has been a slight increase in the number of potholes on city streets this year.
"It was a more extreme winter than we've had in a number of years, so largely with those freeze thaw cycles and just our plows being out more too hitting the roads," he said.
City crews have been out repairing the potholes as quickly as possible.
Jackson said even in the middle of winter crews are out to keep the road safe.
"Now that spring is here we are able to focus more on that, so we have more crews out, we're doing extended hours into the evening, we're doing work on weekends just to try to catch up now that winter operations are over and we're heading into spring," he said.
The turn around time for when a pothole does get fixed varies, depending on the road.
"A local road doesn't have to be for up to a month, we often and almost always beat that timeline but if it's a major sized pothole on a major road we're typically filling that within the day," Jackson said.
During the March 4 meeting city councillors heard an update on the current pothole situation.
Jackson told Sarnia council the city is getting a second hot box.
The new equipment has been delivered and the mechanics will be doing some work on it to get it ready and on the road.
Jackson is hoping to have the second hot box on the road next week.
Meanwhile, the city has also been dealing with its fair share of water main breaks.
Jackson said this year there were a higher number during the winter months than they've had in the last few years.
"We're over 80 water main breaks so far this year, so that has been a lot of work for our crews and luckily now as the ground is starting to thaw they have tapered off a bit," he said.
Additionally with the warmer weather the city will be starting some road reconstruction projects this year.
Crews will be doing the second phase of Wellington Street and Michigan Avenue between Colborne Street and Indian Road.
Jackson added if anyone sees a pothole or water main break they can call the customer service line at 519-332-0330 or reach out online.