TORONTO, (Sept. 1, 2004) — Frustrated truckers and motorists fed up with the condition of Ontario roads can vent online and vote for the worst maintained road in the province.

The Ontario Worst Roads campaign 2004 — launched by a coalition that includes the Ontario Trucking Association, Canadian Automobile Association Ontario, Canadian Taxpayers Federation Ontario, and the Ontario Road Builders Association — officially kicks off today, and already drivers are commenting on the worst cracked, and potholed stretches of asphalt in Ontario.

The group is hoping the site (www.worstroads.ca) will generate discussion about the need to invest in roads and lure politicians into responding, said Rob Bradford, a spokesperson for the Ontario Road Builders Association.

Bradford noted that governments delude themselves by thinking that they can save money by delaying road maintenance. He explained in a press release that the cost of basic preventative maintenance during the first ten years of a road’s life is between $500 and $1,000 per lane-km. If this work is delayed, the cost jumps to $80,000 by year 12 and as much as $250,000 by year 15 as the problems become more serious.

Bradford says the nomination period expires Nov. 14, after which time the coalition will look at the roads that received the most nominations and dispatch regional representatives to take a look at them.

After a day online, border town Windsor’s Huron Church Road — the main artery leading up to the busiest U.S.-Canada border crossing — was leading the poll in complaints. About 25,000 trucks and cars per day converge on Huron Church Road, creating a bottleneck that severely strains infrastructure. Another major annoyance is that the route is interrupted by 17 sets of traffic lights between Highway 401 and the Ambassador Bridge crossing.

Many roads in sister border city Sarnia and Northern Ontario town Sudbury were rounding out the rest of the top ten. A close second to Huron Church was Paris St. in Sudbury when Today’s Trucking checked the site earlier today.

Last year’s inaugural “worst road” title went to Toronto’s Steeles Ave. between Yonge St. and Bathurst St. The website describes the road as “a disgrace.” Clearly visible are “potholes, wheelpath rutting, asphalt chunks popping from pavement, shoved shoulders, bumps, severe longitudinal and transverse cracking.”

Toronto itself received the most complaints of any municipality in 2003, with 263 nominations. Sudbury was second with 206 complaints, and London placed third with 122.