Fed up with a pothole marking the street in front of his home, a St. Norbert man took it upon himself to fix the problem — filling the hazard with concrete after years of City of Winnipeg delays.
“We were just at the point where it was dangerous and I decided I’m not letting this one go,” Vic Hiebert said, pointing to the cracked pavement on Julien Place. “This is disgraceful already.”
Hiebert, who first reported the pothole to the city in 2022, said it had grown deep enough to expose the steel rebar beneath before he filled it himself last summer with three 20-pound bags of concrete. In June, he dumped another bag in.
The Winnipegger said he understands there are higher-priority repairs needed throughout the city, but questioned why it would take years to address the issue.
“We are not asking for a complete street renewal, just some well-needed asphalt repair to fill holes that collect water after every rainfall, thus causing more damage,” Hiebert said.
The city said it received seven reports about the damaged street since 2020, including five in 2022.
According to city records, crews visited the site “more than once since summer 2022 to repair hazardous potholes,” spokesperson Julie Dooley said.
Hiebert said, although inspectors have assessed the pothole at least twice, they have never moved forward with repairs.
Efforts to officially fix the damage began Tuesday morning — one day after the Free Press reached out to the city with questions about the issue, he said.
Within a few hours, city crews successfully patched the pothole and others in the south Winnipeg cul-de-sac with layers of black asphalt.
Dooley noted the city did not receive any complaints about road conditions on Julien Place in 2024, and previous records show no mention of exposed rebar.
“I really want to stress that we can’t repair potholes if we don’t know they exist … We inspect areas of concern when we are made aware of them and conduct repairs as required.”
The city discourages residents from undertaking repairs themselves, the spokesperson said, adding the Free Press request brought the location to the attention of city inspectors who ordered the work be completed quickly.
Hiebert acknowledged he did not file another complaint with the city this year, opting instead to reach out to St. Norbert Coun. Markus Chambers, who he said did not get back to him.
Hiebert noted he had raised the issue with Chambers in previous years, and found the councillor to be responsive.
“Usually, when an issue comes up like that, I contact 311 on (the resident’s) behalf and I initiate a service request, but it’s really then up to public works in terms of when they are going to action that,” Chambers said by phone. “The fact that it’s initiated by the councillor really does not expedite it.”
The councillor said he raised the issue with public works last year and the department later told him work had been completed on Julien Place. He believes the street may have received a temporary fix that did not withstand the winter, causing the issue to reemerge.
Like Dooley, Chambers advised residents not to take it upon themselves to complete repairs.
“I recognize the frustration of the residents, but it’s something that, in actuality, the city should be initiating those repairs,” he said.
Chambers urged residents to continue filing reports and take photos of damage they encounter on city streets, saying it helps city staff triage repairs.
“It’s definitely a problem,” Canadian Taxpayers Federation prairie region director Gage Haubrich said of Hiebert’s plight for road repairs.
“The city government takes in millions of dollars from taxpayers every year and the basic things that taxpayers expect from their city is to fix the roads and clean out the garbage.”
Haubrich suggested the city prioritize basic road maintenance over mega-projects — such as the plan to overhaul Kenaston Boulevard, which could cost up to $737 million if the city is left to pay for it without support from senior levels of government.
Winnipeg’s street system contains a collective 7,650 kilometres of roads and alleyways. The city has committed to spending $138.3 million on repairs this season, down from $159 million in 2023.
tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca
Tyler Searle
Reporter
Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press‘s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.
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