By Ryan Pilon

Holy Potholes Batman!

Apr 5, 2011 | 11:48 AM

Drivers now have to showcase their maneuvering abilities, as the spring melt is revealing some large potholes around the city.

For those who aren’t able to avoid hitting one, the impact can cause some damage to their vehicles, said Adam Hulowski with Perry’s Automotive.

“I’ve seen bent rims. Lots of times the alignment getting knocked out, you hit a good bump and you’re probably going to have some steering wheel issues. You’re steering wheel might be a little bit crooked, that’s usually the first complaint,” Hulowski said.

Hulowski said they’ve had about 10 vehicles brought in so far due to hitting a pothole, but said many times drivers don’t realize they’ve damaged their automobiles.

“When you’re on the highway, even if you’re getting a vibration from your seat, like the whole car’s shaking, that’s a good sign you’ve got a bent rim or maybe knocked the balance off on one of your wheels,” said Hulowski.

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“Also, a crooked steering wheel could indicate your alignment got knocked out a little bit … also if it’s pulling to the left.”

The city is working repairing the potholes, but can only provide a temporary solution right now, said Colin Innes, director of public works for the city of Prince Albert.

The conditions are still too cold to use hot-mix asphalt, so right now they are filling the holes with either a cold-mix asphalt product or concrete.

“It does hold up, but it doesn’t hold as well as regular asphalt does,” Innes said.

They need sunny weather with temperatures above 10 degrees Celsius in order to use the hot-mix asphalt, he said.

“If it’s too cold, then the hot-mix asphalt isn’t able to compact properly, and it’ll just end up coming out as well. So we really need good daytime highs before we’re able to do the permanent fix.”

Innes said the amount of potholes Prince Albert has seen this spring is on par with most years.

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rpilon@panow.com