Pothole season in Winnipeg this year could be taste of what's to come with climate change

Water-filled craters have partially swallowed vehicles.

A midwife on her way to a delivery blew two tires on her vehicle after hitting an unavoidably large hole.

Streetcar tracks from a bygone era have become exposed, revealing the extent to which Winnipeg's approach to street maintenance has often simply patched over the past.

These are just some of the images and stories Winnipeggers have seen as potholes have appeared at an alarming rate this spring, and it could be a taste of what's to come as climate change wreaks havoc on our city roads.

This season's pothole situation has been exacerbated by an enormous amount of precipitation and an extended freeze-thaw cycle.

And Manitobans can expect more periods of intense rain and snow, more extreme temperatures and longer freeze-thaw cycles, says an engineer who specializes in pavement design and highway materials.

"We have roads that were built 40, 50 years ago facing new temperature extremes that they were not designed for and never experienced before," said Ahmed Shalaby, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Manitoba.

That increases the stress on our roads and shortens the lifespan of infrastructure that in many cases is already approaching its replacement point.

Newer road designs account for climate change, but roads that are decades old were built when less was known about its effects and how to address the problem, Shalaby said.

And as bad as this spring has been, the worst effects might not appear until this summer, he said.

Periods of extreme heat, like those Winnipeg experienced last summer, cause pavement roads and sidewalks to expand.

"When these roads are trying to expand during a heat wave … there is not room for them to expand, and then they end up buckling and creating abrupt failures," he said.

"The understanding is that with this continuing climate change, we may see even an epidemic of those types of failures in the future."

A 2016 report by Natural Resources Canada and Transport Canada examined the expected impacts of climate change on the country's roads and other infrastructure.