WATERLOO REGION — Expect fewer potholes this year to jar your teeth and ruin your rims. Really.

That’s the optimistic outlook some local roads officials have after a winter with little snow and consistent, below-freezing temperatures.

“It’s not so bad so far,” said Phil Hewitson, operations manager at the City of Waterloo.

It’s the same news out of Kitchener.

“There no water in the road, and were not getting severe frost and cold temps. You’re really not going to get the freeze-thaw to create potholes,” said Chris Greenwood, Kitchener road repair supervisor.

Potholes crop up when water seeps into cracked asphalt on warm days then freezes overnight, heaving the road surface. Warm stretches in the heart of winter jump-start the problem, because snowplows efficiently scalp the proud asphalt and pothole patches.

This year, works crews weren’t busy plowing snow. Instead, they were out patching potholes, Greenwood said.

Alex Piggott, Cambridge’s operations manager, was hesitant to predict an easy pothole season – especially with ideal spring pothole weather forecast through the weekend. So far, however, it’s been nothing like the rough springs of 2008 and 2009 when frustrated motorists went as far as posting fix-me signs along battered Franklin Boulevard.

Last month, Cambridge won an “innovative service delivery practice” award from the Ontario Roads Coalition for its two-year-old pothole hot patch program.

Instead of shovelling “cold patch” asphalt to plug ruts, the city decided to spend more money up front to bring in hot mix asphalt from Toronto through the winter. Crews also use portable cookers made in Kitchener to reheat stockpiled and recycled asphalt into durable pothole patches as needed.

Before the new effort, Cambridge workers had to return within the hour to refill potholes on a high-traffic roads like Franklin. Not any more.

“We’ve got some patches along Franklin Boulevard that have been in place for two years that we placed in the middle of the winter.”

Kitchener also uses hot asphalt for as many road repairs as possible. Workers have a stockpile of virgin asphalt saved in summer. Each morning, workers dump it into an infrared heater, then pour it into trailers that keep it warm and sticky all day.

Waterloo isn’t following Cambridge and Kitchener by using hot asphalt to fix potholes. At least not yet.

Hewitson said it’s more than just ordering hot mix. It involves dedicating more workers and equipment – including rollers and asphalt heaters – than sending out a couple of workers with a truckload of cold patch and shovels.

Roads managers say they’re also working to repave crumbling roads, eliminating the need to go back every spring to fight potholes.

For years, Kitchener has resurfaced about six kilometres of roads at an annual cost of $2 million to $3 million. Another 6.4 kilometres is planned this year. Kitchener has about 800 km of roads to maintain.

Cambridge is in the middle of a two-year road repaving blitz, funded mostly by federal-provincial government grants. In 2009, the city spent $5.3 million on spot paving of 33.5 kilometres of two-lane road. This year, another 34 km are in the budget for $7 million.

“That 67 km is 20 per cent of the city’s roads,” Piggott said. “It’s made a huge improvement to our patching program.”

Car repair shops haven’t seen any evidence of potholes this year, either.

“I can honestly say I haven’t had one comment about it,” said Phil Hinschberger, owner of PTH Automotive at Bridgeport and Weber in Waterloo.

“Last year, it was just going on forever.”

It’s the same at Tireco on Fairway Road in Kitchener, said Nate Pond at the customer service desk.

He figures there’s fewer potholes because there’s been little snow in the winter that wasn’t.

“It’s the plows that would do it to the road … they haven’t been out in full this last winter. Last year there were bunker holes.”

Spot a pothole? Here’s who to call to get it fixed:

Cambridge – 519-740-4671

Kitchener – 519-741-2514

Waterloo – 519-886-2310

kswayze@cambridgereporter.com