It’s been a busier than normal year for filling potholes in Kamloops.

Complaints are up by 71 per cent, from 694 in 2019 to 1,187 this year as of Dec. 11, and crews have fixed nearly 9,000 potholes altogether.

Streets manager Glen Farrow says this is the first year city crews have kept track of the number of potholes fixed, but says anecdotally it’s more than previous years.

He says there have been some natural challenges.

“It started with early snow in the fall, late snow through all the way into March. So that just adds to the additional moisture in the ground, and we had a very wet spring and summer, June and July. So, often we forget about what happened two-to-three months ago, and this is a perfect example of that.”

Farrow also says his department was short-staffed early in the pandemic, and says he recruited other city workers to fix potholes who would’ve otherwise been laid off.

Regardless, Farrow says most potholes have been repaired within two days of city crews finding out about them. Internally, the city has a guideline of fixing potholes within 96 hours.

He also points out that applies only to potholes on streets maintained by the city, adding potholes in private parking lots, private roads and on provincial highways are looked about by road maintenance crews contracted by the Ministry of Transportation. That includes the Halston Bridge and the Red Bridge.

The public can report potholes at 250-828-3461, at publicworks@kamloops.ca, or through the MyKamloops App.