With high levels of rainfall, the task of filling Canberra's potholes has become like a game of municipal whack-a-mole.
Just as one pothole is filled in, others seem to pop up, the result of moisture getting under the road surface and eating away at the road base.
City Services Minister Chris Steel on Monday said more permanent hot-mix pothole repairs were coming as warmer weather allowed the annual road resurfacing program to start.
"We've put on extra resources to repair potholes and there is significant amount of work done by Roads ACT over the weekend to repair the damage caused by a week's worth of rain," Mr Steel said.
Street sweepers have been redirected to pothole repairs and the government had extended a contract for another 12 weeks for additional pothole repair workers.
"[We are] putting more resources into this because we know with this rain it is likely to continue and there will be more damage on our roads," Mr Steel said.
More rain is forecast to fall on Canberra from Thursday, with the Bureau of Meteorology predicting up to 25 millimetres over two days.
On a recent morning on Empire Circuit, Forrest, Corey Lawson and Daniel Hodges from the ACT government's Transport Canberra and City Services Directorate were on hand to temporarily patch two holes in the middle of an intersection with Tasmania Circle.
First, traffic controllers were stationed around the two potholes to take traffic down to one lane. Work did not start until after 9am, giving the majority of people a fair chance to get to work.
Then Mr Lawson and Mr Hodges made quick work of the pothole ,which had opened up in the middle of the road.
The pair scooped as much water out of the hole as they could with a shovel, before filling it with cold mix asphalt and stamping it down, topping up with more cold mix to ensure it was level with the original road surface.
The finishing touch was a dusting of sand over the top to ensure the fresh cold mix does not stick to tyres, which soon can drive over the top. (For the same reason, Mr Lawson and Mr Hodges sprayed their tools with a special emulsion to prevent the mix sticking.)
It's not a permanent solution, but it's the fastest way to restore the road to its safest condition in the meantime.
While the job is a quick one for each pothole, the number the each crew can fill in a day depends on the holes' location, difficulty and how many traffic controllers are required.
Transport Canberra and City Services say they respond to the potholes that present the most pressing safety issues first, and encouraged Canberra drivers to report them using the government's Fix My Street website.
Eventually, crews will double back to provide a permanent fix for potholes, cutting around the hole, getting the moisture out and patching it with hot mix asphalt. A stretch of sunny weather is required for much of this work.
Send your photos of potholes near you to online@canberratimes.com.au
An ACT government spokeswoman said potholes are generally repaired within 10 working days after they are reported. Potholes of immediate concern are generally fixed within 48 hours.
"This will be our third La Nina weather pattern in a row, with road damage occurring across the entire of south east Australia," the spokeswoman said.
"The ACT government has a proactive program to inspect our key arterial roads and also responds to community requests of dangerous potholes."
Between January 1 and July 31 this year, there were 635 potholes reported in Canberra.
There were 339 potholes reported in August alone. More than 200 of those were reported after a week of heavy rain.
Motorists whose vehicles have been damaged by potholes in the ACT this year have already shared in more than $43,000 of government compensation, already outstripping the number of successful claims made last year.
The ACT government has paid out 50 damage claims so far in 2022, up from 40 last year and 16 in 2020. The government paid out $39,024.85 in 2020 and has so far paid out $43,148.96 this year.
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