CAA worst roads competition begins alongside pothole season in Sudbury

Greater Sudbury residents, fed up with potholes hidden by snow, say road conditions are the worst they have been in years. Madison Marier explains.

As the snow continues to fall on the streets of Greater Sudbury, potholes are sometimes hard to see, but easy for many drivers to feel as they travel on city streets.

The road craters are the main reason why Sudbury roads routinely make it to the list of worst roads, an annual event put on by the CAA that launched this week.

“There’s lots of them,” one Sudburian told CTV News about potholes.

“As far as taking care of them, I don’t know how to do that, or I don’t know if they know how to do it. But it’s definitely an ongoing thing.”

One local senior said this is the worst season they can remember for potholes.

“I mean big potholes -- where I blew a tire on my truck once. And now, everybody I know is having problems with their cars.”

The comments are right on time for CAA’s worst roads campaign, which is now accepting nominations.

Brian Pirvu, the CAA’s government relations consultant, said the contest gives residents across the country a chance to draw attention to bad roads.

“It’s a perfect opportunity to advocate for change and have your voice heard,” Pirvu said.

“It serves as another alternative to communicate to your elected representatives what you’re feeling about the state of the roads. And we welcome all road users. It could be motorists, it could be public transit users.”

Sudbury roads are not strangers to the list. In 2025, the city took three spots on the northern regional Top 5 list.

“I guess the frequent flier on the regional list would be Panache Lake Road in Sudbury,” said Pirvu.

Panache was No. 1 on the northern regional Top 5 list.

Pirvu said many of the roads that made the list have become the focus of reconstruction efforts.

“A lot of the roads in Sudbury and North Bay -- Sault Ste. Marie with McNab Street, they got on to our northern regional list last year,” he said.

“There are infrastructure projects going on with these roads, (including) Premier Road in North Bay. They’re going through a large-scale infrastructure project. So, it’s good to see that municipalities are paying attention to this.”

Officials in Greater Sudbury weren’t available for an interview Tuesday, but they did say their crews are focused on snow removal in the wake of last week’s massive winter storm.

However, CTV News did spot a pothole repair crew on Burton Avenue, which landed on the CAA list last year.

Potholes are largely caused by the freeze-thaw cycle. Melting snow gets into small cracks in the pavement, then expands when the water freezes, enlarging the crack. Repeat that process a few times and the result is a pothole.

With the warmer weather on the horizon late next week, combined with the large amount of snow piled up in the city, residents can expect the pothole issue to get worse before it gets better.