The constant freeze and thaw this past winter could make for a "very busy" CAA Worst Roads campaign year.
The 18th annual campaign officially launched on Tuesday.
Teresa Di Felice, assistant vice president of government and community relations for CAA South Central Ontario, said the results of a "really tough winter" are already being seen across southwestern Ontario.
"The potholes are quite large. It is a challenge with our climate but this year in particular, just because of the constant freeze and thaw, we expect it to be a very busy annual CAA Worst Roads campaign year."
Di Felice said the annual campaign gives Ontarians "a voice" to bring awareness to which roadways need improvements.
Ontarians can vote online at caaworstroads.com until April 19. Di Felice said more than one road in need of repair can be nominated and participants can vote daily.
Aside from an economic or infrastructure perspective, Di Felice said the list of worst roads nominated by individuals involves important safety concerns for consideration.
"In a recent survey that we did, 65 per cent of respondents said that they are slowing down suddenly in order to address an upcoming pothole and 64 per cent are swerving," she said. "These are pretty significant driving behaviors in order to respond to the pavement surface."
Although the majority of complaints collected through the campaign revolve around poor pavement surface, Di Felice said other issues are also highlighted.
"We have seen top 10 lists that are due to some design issues that are creating more congestion than I think originally planned in let's say a new development," she said. "Sometimes it's about lack of infrastructure, whether it be cycling or sidewalks but I would say more times than not it is due to bad payment surfaces."
A local roadway that continuously makes its way onto the regional worst roads list is Plank Road. However, work was anticipated to start this spring after the project was pushed back in 2021.
"It's one of those ones where it may not come off of the list very quickly but it definitely is on the radar and the fact that it keeps appearing on the list is usually a sigh of relief when it finally comes off of the list," said Di Felice.
Windsor and Sarnia roadways rounded out the top five list of worst roads in the region in 2021. Vidal Street South was listed fifth in the rankings.
Once this year's nomination period closes, Di Felice said the lists for the province and specific regions will be released in early June.
Following the nomination process, Di Felice said CAA will also work with the Ontario Road Builders Association to get an indication of how minor or major these roadway fixes would be to give "decision-makers" relevant information concerning roadways.
A launch of the 2022 CAA Worst Roads campaign was live-streamed Tuesday morning.
