Pothole fixing machine eyed by city officials

The city is looking at a machine from a Saskatchewan company as a possible fix forEdmonton's pothole problem.

The Python 5000 is a big yellow truck with an attachment that the company claims can fill a pothole safely and more quickly than traditional patching crews.

"Performs all the functions of a three or four-person crew and it will do your average pothole in about two minutes and it leaves a permanent patch behind," said Marjorie Strandlund, marketing manager for Python Manufacturing in Regina.

Strandlund says the machine also makes pothole patching safer because it means no crews are standingon the road.

The $275,000 Python is being used in Brazil, India and several U. S. states. Strandlund says her company has received a preliminary inquiry from Edmonton.

The machine was tested by the city of Regina but officials werent sold on it.

"We did a fairly extensive kind of trial/lease with it using one of their operators and what we found was it did do the work," said Trevor Kosolofski, manager of asphalt services.

"We kind ofhad mixed results with it."

Kosolofski says Regina has gone back to using traditional pothole patching crews.