The County of Essex is asking residents to report issues along county roadways.
While a majority of the problems reported to the County are for potholes, residents can report issues related to roadways, ditches, road kill, trails, traffic signals, and more.
There are two ways to report, people can call the Report a Road Problem line through the County of Essex, or can fill out a form online.
These reports help the County be aware of issues on the roads, and address them in a timely manner.
County roads are main arteries that are not provincial highways. They are marked by black-and-white signs with the words "Essex County" and the road number.
Jeremy Krueger, Manager of Maintenance Operations for the County of Essex, says it's important for the community to report issues, no matter how small.
"Anything that the public might see that we are missing, or if it's after hours and we're not on the road, stop signs, or debris on the roads, potholes, traffic signals that are malfunctioning, dead animals that are a safety hazard on the road, anything that could be a safety issue we want to know as soon as possible."
Krueger says potholes in the spring are the County's biggest enemy, but there are other common issues.
"As the frost comes out of the ground the roads start to, if they're weakened at all, they start to pop a little bit and asphalt will pop loose. Also in the spring a big thing is road kill, a lot of animals moving in the spring time and they get clipped by cars. During thunderstorms we have, more so in the summertime, we get downed branches and tree limbs that are all over the place."
He says it's important that issues are reported to the County can fix is as soon as possible.
"Potholes will help us to know what roads are really starting to fail. The more we have to go and put coal mix on one of the roads, it'll let us know it needs more rehabilitation. As far as trees and stuff, when you have tree limbs that are coming down constantly, maybe those trees in that area might be dying and need more attention, or a complete removal. Shoulder complaints, if we get a bunch of shoulder drop-offs or soft shoulders with trucks and farm equipment moving down the road."
Krueger says in 2023 there were 2,281 service requests submitted. He adds that these requests are "over and above" routine maintenance that is performed by the county such as line painting, roadside mowing, and cleaning ditches.
The County of Essex has 1,503 lane kilometres of roadway.
The number to call to report a problem is 519-326-8691, or the Report a Road Problem form can be found by clicking here.