Road conditions this spring in Hanover are among the worst the municipality has seen over the last decade. 

That is according to Wes Fehr, Manager of Public Works and Operations. Fehr says they were definitely expecting to have to deal with the impact of frost boils this spring, and notes they are in the thick of it right now. 

"And we are seeing some streets in some local communities that have seen some serious frost boil issues," notes Fehr. "While other areas are holding up fairly good."

One of those streets, which Fehr says is notorious for frost boils, is Centre Street North in Mitchell. 

"It's in poor shape right now," says Fehr. 

He notes there are barricades placed along Centre Street North in order that motorists will avoid the hazardous conditions. There are also restrictions in place to hold off some of the heavier traffic. Fehr says the Local Urban District committee of Mitchell is currently looking at a plan to remedy that situation.

Another problem area is in Blumenort along Barkman Street and RockRidge Drive. Fehr explains that some of the issues there are because of heavier traffic recently due to construction work. Fehr says there are also restrictions in place there and the municipality is asking for local traffic only. According to Fehr, that is not a new problem in Blumenort and the plan is to make some repairs and do some reconstruction.

Fehr admits that it is difficult to say exactly why these streets in Mitchell and Blumenort have issues each year. He notes there are high water levels in those areas, and they will need to address what the water is doing beneath the surface. 

"We have our engineering department that's actually working with that to look to see what can be done going forward," he adds. 

Fehr says it is not only streets in urban areas that are feeling the brunt from the spring thaw, he notes some of Hanover's gravel roads are also having issues because of a lack of base construction that has happened within those roads in the past. 

"So, frost boils have definitely been working their way through," he explains. "I would say probably not the worst that we've seen in the past but it's definitely up there with what we've been dealing with in the last 10 years."

Fehr says the gravel roads that are in the worst condition in Hanover are those south of Mitchell towards Grunthal and then east towards the Rural Municipality of La Broquerie. He says though no roads are closed to traffic, they have some areas that are barricaded in order to alert motorists to the hazardous conditions. 

Fehr explains they have road maintainers and tractors doing what they can to deal with the surfaces and make them passable, just to keep traffic flowing. However, no major reconstruction will happen at this time. Fehr says as soon as they would start hauling in material to make repairs, they would wreck too many other roads in the process.