Rough roads and sidewalks are causing havoc: Windsor residents

Windsor residents are not amused when it comes to the surfaces of the roads in the city.

"The roads are not proper," said Rohit Singh. "There are various patches where there needs to be reconstruction."

"It hinders the free movement of traffic and it's a potential accident hazard as well," said Jay Bagchi.

Samuel Collins said rough, uneven roads have "broken" his car "many, many times."

It's not just Windsor residents saying that.

The Canadian Automobile Association (CAA) has compiled a list of the worst roads in Ontario since 2003. In southwestern Ontario this year, four of the five worst roads in the region are in Windsor.

Rough roads have been a point of contention for voters as Windsorites get ready to cast their ballots on Oct. 24.

Analysis of the data found on the City of Windsor's Open Data Catalogue shows that Wards 2 and 5 have consistently ranked among the top wards in the city to have pothole repair requests submitted.

Incumbent Ward 5 candidate Ed Sleiman said that potholes and road safety are a significant concern for him.

"The city of Windsor Public Work Operations has been staying on top of the pothole situation," he said in an emailed statement to CBC News. "Our [public works] operations have employed the latest artificial intelligence technology to address the pothole concern and make sure they are filled as fast as possible."

Sleiman acknowledged that other roads still need repairs.

Richard St. Denis, another Ward 5 candidate, gave a reason why so many potholes exist in the ward.

"Ward 5 has several roads where large trucks service facilities and those roads need additional attention," he said in an emailed statement to CBC News. "But many residential roads have also been neglected for a very long time creating a long list of issues."

In Ward 2, candidate Chris Soda says bicycle riders like him have also experienced issues.

"I've had to get two of my tires fixed," he said. "We've ridden over these cracks and bumps to the point where the frame on my tire was bent."

Soda also mentioned that students are also being affected.

"The University of Windsor is right there," he said, referencing the University's location in the ward. "There's tons of students that live in that area off of Sandwich [Street] who commute to and from [the University of Windsor] every day and they're going up those same bad roads."

Uneven sidewalks also causing issues

According to the City of Windsor's Open Data Catalogue, Ward 4 has the most sidewalk repair requests submitted, with 67 requests in 2022 as of Oct. 14.

That's almost a quarter of the total request in the same timeframe.

Matt Marchand, who is running for Ward 4, says it makes sense.

"We have a lot of trees in Walkerville and they tend to push up the sidewalk, creating trip hazards," he said. "It's not surprising, so we need to get on top of that issue and get some of these sidewalks fixed up going forward into the next council."

This year's numbers are not an anomaly.

For five of the last six years, Ward 4 has ranked as the ward with the most sidewalk repair requests submitted. The only year this was not the case was 2018, when Ward 3 had just one more request submitted that year.

Marchand's campaign has looked to Europe for a solution.

"It's called a continuous sidewalk," Marchand said. "For people with disability issues, the sidewalk is always the same. You don't have to step down and step back up."

Edy Haddad, another candidate for Ward 4, is also not surprised.

"The fact is we keep seeing construction happening," he said. "When it's happening, it's making things sometimes worse. On Ypres [Avenue], they just rebuilt the entire street, but in the process, they did some damage to people's driveways and sidewalks."

Haddad feels trucks driving on roads and construction makes things worse. He plans to ban semi trucks off of residential streets and main roads like Wyandotte Street.

"It's actually becoming a huge concern for neighbours," Haddad said. "That way we're not dealing with as much damage in our neighbourhoods."

Mayoral candidates respond

CBC News reached out to all mayoral candidates competing in the 2022 municipal election.

In an email to CBC News, Abe Taqtaq, manager for Drew Dilkens' mayoral campaign, requested any questions be asked to the city of Windsor since "they would have the required and most relevant information."

A maintenance manager with the city of Windsor said he was unable to respond before deadline, citing scheduling conflicts.

Matthew Giancola and Louis Vaupotic said they were in favour of making roads smoother.

Chris Holt did not respond before deadline.

Aaron Day, Benjamin Danyluk and Ernie Lamont did not respond to requests to comment.

The City of Windsor has budgeted almost $510 million in its 10-year plan for roads infrastructure.

Windsor resident Jainik Shah said that since he's lived in the west end, he hasn't seen improvement.

"In the next election, I want the local council or even the MPs to move forward and improve the road access and also make the roads better," he said.

Here's who's running in Wards 2, 4 and 5

The following candidates are running in the wards mentioned in this story.

Ward 2: Fabio Costante, Myriam Faraj, Sam Romano and Chris Soda.

Ward 4: Giovanni "John" Abati, Edy Haddad, Gregory Heil, Matt Marchand, Mark McKenzie, Jake Rondot, Kristen Siapas and Patrick Sutherland.

Ward 5: Ken Acton, Caitlyn Desmarais, Alessandro Didone (Alex), Ed Sleiman, Currie Soulliere and Richard St. Denis.