General Road and Highway Discussion

[panamaniac]

I always assumed that the "mill" would have been Joseph Schneider's sawmill - the section of Mill St between Stirling and Queen St runs along his original land, IIRC. Yet another question for rych mills!

[Canard]

I hit one several years ago that blew off my side air bag! That was an expensive endeavour. Potholes are nothing to sneeze at.

[jamincan]

I think you're right panamaniac. It's strongly implied in the book that the street took its name from the original Schneider homestead on Queen St.

[numberguy]

I hit one several years ago that blew off my side air bag! That was an expensive endeavour. Potholes are nothing to sneeze at.

Ouch. Did you apply for reimbursement from the city or Region? And were you successful?

[Pheidippides]

If you are driving out that way in coming days, be warned that the potholes on Gage Ave between Westmount and Belmont are ridiculous - I don't think I've ever seen so many in a short stretch of road.  They are worst on the western half of the block.

This morning I saw a City of Kitchener crew patching this stretch of road.

[panamaniac]

If you are driving out that way in coming days, be warned that the potholes on Gage Ave between Westmount and Belmont are ridiculous - I don't think I've ever seen so many in a short stretch of road.  They are worst on the western half of the block.

This morning I saw a City of Kitchener crew patching this stretch of road.

That's good - it was a pretty remarkable collection of potholes!

[ookpik]

I hit one several years ago that blew off my side air bag! That was an expensive endeavour. Potholes are nothing to sneeze at.

Ouch.   Did you apply for reimbursement from the city or Region?   And were you successful?

Good luck with that: Cars dodge potholes, cities dodge blame 

Facing a hefty repair after hitting a pothole? You can try to bill taxpayers but most likely will fail.

 • Local motorists have filed 567 pothole claims since 2010. Local governments have rejected 482, citing a provincial law that allows them four days or longer to repair potholes once they learn of them. Basically, five in six claims are denied.

 • The average payout if you succeed is $456.

 • Kitchener has settled 22 per cent of pothole claims since 2010. Waterloo settles just seven per cent of claims. Cambridge settles 10 per cent of pothole claims. Regional government settles 12 per cent in rural areas.

 • You have to file a written claim within 10 days with the clerk of the municipality with jurisdiction over the road. Say where, when and how it happened and the damage it caused. Your claim will be processed after insurers get an internal report providing details of the pothole, when the municipality learned of it and the steps it took to respond.

 • If denied, you could take your dispute to small-claims court, file a claim with your own insurer or just drop it.

Source: Waterloo Region Municipalities Insurance Pool.

How to report a pothole
In Kitchener call 519-741-2345
In Cambridge call 519-621-0740
In Waterloo call 519-886-2310

[Canard]

Ouch.   Did you apply for reimbursement from the city or Region?   And were you successful?

No, I didn't - it didn't occur to me at the time that I should have done that (but as others have pointed out, I probably would have been unsuccessful). I first went to insurance, who stopped me 30 seconds into the phone call when I said "I hit a pothole". Apparently saying the phrase "I hit" instantly meant I had admitted guilt was ineligible for any kind of compensation (seriously, this is what they told me!). They said if I had just said that the airbag had gone off unexpectedly I would have likely been able to put forth a claim. Criminal, that industry is.

I eventually reached a settlement of sorts with my dealership and smart Canada, where they paid for/donated the required parts under their "Goodwill" programme, and I paid for the labour (which was significantly less than the parts) - the whole seat frame had to be replaced, as it deforms sacrificially when the airbag blows out.

Another buddy of mine had the same thing happen to him, hit a pothole, blew out his airbag and destroyed a rim. There was an article recently where someone in Guelph, I believe, completely lost their car when it caught fire/exploded after hitting one.

[panamaniac]

Ouch.   Did you apply for reimbursement from the city or Region?   And were you successful?

No, I didn't - it didn't occur to me at the time that I should have done that (but as others have pointed out, I probably would have been unsuccessful).  I first went to insurance, who stopped me 30 seconds into the phone call when I said "I hit a pothole".  Apparently saying the phrase "I hit" instantly meant I had admitted guilt was ineligible for any kind of compensation (seriously, this is what they told me!).  They said if I had just said that the airbag had gone off unexpectedly I would have likely been able to put forth a claim.  Criminal, that industry is.

I eventually reached a settlement of sorts with my dealership and smart Canada, where they paid for/donated the required parts under their "Goodwill" programme, and I paid for the labour (which was significantly less than the parts) - the whole seat frame had to be replaced, as it deforms sacrificially when the airbag blows out.

Another buddy of mine had the same thing happen to him, hit a pothole, blew out his airbag and destroyed a rim.  There was an article recently where someone in Guelph, I believe, completely lost their car when it caught fire/exploded after hitting one.

Don't you HATE when that happens? 

[ookpik]

They said if I had just said that the airbag had gone off unexpectedly I would have likely been able to put forth a claim.  Criminal, that industry is.

I've been told that one always starts these sorts of conversations with an insurer using a hypothetical, e.g. "I'm trying to understand my policy. If my car were to come in contact with a pot hole on a city road and the air bags were to deploy, would I be covered?..."

And yes, they're criminal.

[timio]

The 2015 Regional Road Construction list is up on the Region's Website.  Seems like a good number of projects for this year on top of ION construction, including the first phase of Franklin in Cambridge, Highland from Patricia to Westmount in Kitchener, Manitou from Fairway to Bleams, and King from Weber through Conestoga Mall.

[neonjoe]

The westbound bridge of Highway 7-8 over Homer Watson is coming down today. Next Saturday the one over Ottawa is being demolished.

[Canard]

I haven't driven out that way in a while; is traffic completely closed Westbound? Or is it diverted (fewer lanes) onto Eastbound or something?

[timio]

Likely similar to the past few years where they put 2 narrow lanes in each direction on the bridge not being demolished.

[neonjoe]

Yes all the traffic over Ottawa and Homer Watson is currently routed over the eastbound bridges. The westbound ramp to H W is closed, it has been causing quite a bit of backup on the Courtland off ramp and onto the highway the last few times I drove by during rush hour.