Brisbane’s worst suburbs for potholes revealed as council fills more than 400 a day on average

The council has revealed more than 400 potholes a day are filled on average as the worst suburbs for road quality is revealed.

Brisbane’s worst suburbs for potholes have been revealed with the council filling almost 400 potholes a day on average in the six months following the February flooding disaster.

Latest data from Brisbane City Council has revealed that The Gap in Brisbane’s west has topped the list for the most potholes in the city with council filling 2653 potholes in six months.

Hemmant, Pinkenba, Wynnum, Eagle Farm and Moggill all also had more than 2000 potholes to fix in half a year.

Hamilton had over 1700, while Wynnum West, Belmont and Indooroopilly all also needed more than 1600 potholes filled, also making them some of the worst suburbs in the city for road quality.

Brisbane's worst suburbs for potholes have been revealed. Picture: Jerad Williams

Councillor and civic cabinet chair for city standard, Kim Marx, said that the city was well underway rebuilding after one of Brisbane’s biggest ever floods at the start of the year, with almost $40m allocated to repairing roads.

“Brisbane has experienced extraordinary rainfall this year and since the start of the February floods, we have filled a record almost 70,500 potholes,” she said.

“Thanks to our dedicated Council crews working around the clock to fix the reported potholes our roads are inspected and fixed as quickly as possible to ensure people can get home sooner and safer.”

The six months following the floods have been significantly bad for potholes around Brisbane with council reporting 70,461 potholes filled since February, averaging out to roughly 400 potholes filled a day.

This can be compared to the 80,406 potholes that were filled in the whole year of 2021, which works out to be almost half of the daily work seen so far this year.

Meanwhile, in the month after the floods, there was a record-breaking 17,077 potholes filled compared to the 10,862 that were filled after the 2011 floods.

Stacey Rawlings, General Manager, Queensland at Engineers Australia said patching potholes is a short-term solution, and more preventative measures need to be taken by the Council during road repairs.

“Adding a waterproofing bitumen layer as a sprayed coating on top of the asphalt (or below the asphalt) can help to reduce cracking in the long term by adding a layer of protection to the road,” she said.

“Road overlays and reconstruction as long-term solutions can be costly options. Most of the time, the most adequate option for local road managers is to ensure the asphalt is refreshed and replaced frequently.”

Some roads can be more susceptible to potholes if they are busier, poorly maintained, older or use a certain type of protective layer to the asphalt which could increase water penetration, Ms Rawlings said.

“The use of high-quality materials with sufficient thickness in construction, effective water drainage below the road, adequate cross-section and surface drainage, and frequent maintenance of subsurface drains will give roads the best chance of being resilient to flooding,” she said.

“Continual improvement to design and materials for roads is essential.”