How dangerous are Montreal’s potholes?

A patched pothole on the route of last weekend’s Grand Prix Cycliste had all eyes on the city’s road conditions.

The 14th edition of the city’s international cycling competition, which drew top cyclists from around the world, was held from Sept. 12-14. But this year it was the state of the roads, not the competition, that stole the spotlight.

Around 120 kilometres in, as riders climbed up Mount Royal, Dutch cyclist Pascal Eenkhoorn hit a raised patch of asphalt and was thrown onto the road, counting him down and out for the rest of the race.

It’s had some Montrealers grumbling about the city’s roads.

“I turned into a side lane and there was a speed bump followed by a pothole and it threw me off my bike,” said Montrealer David Tacium.

Resident Caleb Lebel adding, “If there’s a tree and there’s extra shade and you don’t see it — that’s especially dangerous.”

But it’s not just pro cyclists that feel the impact of Montreal’s roads.

Representatives from community organization Vélo Québec, which runs a program teaching adults how to bike, say Montreal’s road conditions add another layer of risk for new riders.

“When we teach new cyclists how to bike in montreal, there’s so many things that you need to be aware of, signage, other road users, and when you add road condition to that, it does make you vulnerable,” said Magali Bebronne, the program director of Vélo Québec.

Experts have linked what they call Montreal’s shoddy pothole repairs to City mismanagement.

Montreal’s auditor general (AG) in August blamed the city’s poor road quality on poor management of maintenance and upkeep, saying that nearly 40 per cent of local streets, managed by the boroughs, were in “poor” or “very poor” condition in 2024.

Only around three per cent of Montreal’s local streets in “poor” conditions received repairs between 2022 and 2024, according to the report.

But the issue reaches beyond cyclists.

Since the start of 2025, 1,113 motorists have filed claims with the city for vehicle damage caused by bad roads — nearly matching the one thousand one hundred sixteen complaints for all of 2022, which was an eight-year record at the time.

City spokesperson Philippe Sabourin told CityNews Wednesday that the number of motorist complaints rises and falls with temperature swings that create potholes.

“It’s fact — in 2022 (and) 2025, there was a lot of fluctuation of temperature,” Sabourin said. “When you have inflation of water when you have drastic swings of temperature, then you have to deal with potholes.”

“I phoned the City of Montreal the next day, they gave me a case number,” Tacium said. “They said they would fix (the pothole) and it’s been several weeks and it’s still there.”

Fixing potholes has been a game of whack-a-mole for the city, which is why Montreal is encouraging residents to use its new Service aux Citoyennes app to snap photos and report potholes directly to repair crews.

“The app will geolocalize the pot hole, will send information to the crew at the city and you will have a personal follow-up saying philipe your pot hole has been fixed,” said Sabourin.

But for now, Montrealers will still have to keep a close eye on the road and their tires as they ride.