A record-breaking 100,000 potholes have been filled across Brisbane this year following the region’s devastating February floods.
Lord Mayor, Adrian Schrinner today thanked hard working Council crew members for their efforts to fill the city’s potholes, which he said had increased as a result of consecutive La Nina weather events.
“Water is enemy number one when it comes to the conditions of our roads,” Lord Mayor Schrinner said.
“The extraordinary rain events we continue to experience damage our roads, resulting in more than 100,000 potholes being filled so far this year, including 90,000 since the February floods.
“I want to thank those Council repair crews who are out every day responding quickly to reports from residents about potholes.”
In the month after the 2022 floods, Council filled a record-breaking 17,077 potholes. In comparison, in the month after the January 2011 floods, 10,862 potholes were filled.
Council employs six pothole crews, with up to four staff per crew, operating six days and four nights each week. Additional crews work extra nights and Sundays as weather events increase pothole numbers.
The Lord Mayor said another citywide road survey to detect damage caused by water had begun.
“Our officers quickly completed an inspection of Brisbane roads following the February flood,” he said.
“This has resulted in 78 roads that were inundated with water undergoing significant repairs as part of Council’s Rebuild & Recover program.
“We will now conduct another round of road surveys based on expert advice that it can take more than six months for damage caused by water to materialise.
“As part of these surveys, we deploy specialised vehicles that use laser-based images to measure and detect cracking, potholes, and poor road surface.
“They can do this with just a single pass.”
Lord Mayor Schrinner said the Council was investing an additional $34 million to repair flood-damaged roads on top of the continued record repair and resurface budget.
“We are committed to ensuring Brisbane residents get home sooner and safer so repairing roads is vital,” he said.
Council has urged residents to report potholes so they could be repaired quickly.
“As the biggest local government in Australia, Brisbane also has the largest amount of bitumen with a total road network of 5760 kilometres,” he said.
“So we always encourage residents to let us know whenever they see pothole.
“While our crews repair potholes as they come across them, residents letting us know when they come across them helps us respond faster.”
Suburbs with the most potholes filled in 2022 to date are: The Gap, Hemmant, Pinkenba, Eagle Farm, Moggill.
