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After suffering two flat tires on one of Montreal’s busiest streets, Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada says the city will move quickly to address worsening road conditions.
Martinez Ferrada said she blew a pair of tires while driving her personal vehicle along Notre-Dame Street, prompting her to share the experience on social media Monday.
“We are going to bring in solutions, but in the meantime, we are being towed. The state of the roads does not make any sense,” the mayor said in a video posted online.
The incident occurred only hours after Martinez Ferrada described the state of Montreal’s roads as “catastrophic” during a news conference earlier Monday.
Drivers across the city have been grappling with rapidly deteriorating road conditions in recent weeks after a January warm spell caused potholes to form quickly on major arteries and residential streets alike.
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Notre-Dame Street includes a stretch that was voted Montreal’s worst road in CAA Québec’s 2025 online citizen survey.
CAA Québec said flat-tire service calls in Montreal and Laval jumped 75 per cent between Jan. 9 and Jan. 20 compared with the same period last year. By contrast, the Quebec City region recorded a 35 per cent increase, while calls across the province rose 50 per cent.
“The condition of the roadways and highways in the greater Montreal area is a cause for concern,” said CAA Québec spokesperson Simon Bourassa.
Bourassa said vehicles had to be towed in six per cent of flat-tire calls during that period — a level he described as significant. “We didn’t notice that before,” he said.
He added the increase in towing is linked to the severity of damage, as well as the growing number of newer vehicles that no longer carry spare tires and instead rely on repair kits that are often ineffective.
The mayor said the city is prioritizing temporary repairs on major arteries but acknowledged crews are unable to patch streets quickly enough.
Martinez Ferrada has previously said the city is struggling to keep pace with repairs because it lacks sufficient functioning equipment.
In the meantime, the city is urging motorists to slow down and exercise caution while navigating cratered streets.
While the mayor’s office has yet to release specific details on how the problem will be addressed, Martinez Ferrada said she plans to unveil what she described as a citywide spring road repair blitz in the coming weeks.
–with files from The Canadian Press
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