Iqaluit (May 16/05) - Pothole season has begun in Iqaluit, where some pockmarked roads look as if mortar shells recently rained from the sky.

"I haven't seen this, even in the Third World," said Abo Baker, a 35-year-old cabbie who has driven the dusty roads of Libya.

Iqaluit cabbie Abo Baker usually tries to avoid the potholes, but when his passengers are in a hurry, he says he just grins and bears it, knowing it might mean more repairs to his car.

He says nothing compares to Iqaluit.

The deteriorating roads mean less money and more repairs for people like him who are paid to navigate the streets.

"You have to take the side of the road and drive slow," he said.

Baker sticks to the city's paved Ring Road when he can and detours around nasty spots. But when customers become impatient he usually speeds up, even though he knows it'll mean his cab's newly-replaced ball-joints will end up shot once again.

"You have to drive faster, and you pay the price," he said.

Other times he worries when cars veer into the other lane just to avoid potholes.

"They're drunk with no drinking," he said.

Potholes begin to form when the snow melts and creates mud pockets on the roads, which become dug out and grow deeper every time a car tire rolls over them.

The city employs one foreman and seven heavy-duty machinery operators to maintain the streets, along with several private contractors to help with grading.

"When it first starts to thaw it's really hard, because the bottom's frozen," said Chris Freda, acting director of public works. "The grader can't rip through everything."

The recent arrival of more snow spells at least a temporary reprieve.

"If it keeps snowing, we might be back in winter," he said, hopefully.

Stuff of legend

Iqaluit's potholes are the stuff of legend in Nunavut's other communities, which have fewer roads and less traffic.

In the Cape Dorset coffee shop, people speak of how Iqaluit vigilantes take matters into their own hands and fill the holes themselves.

Others say their bodies still smart from their last visit.

"My neck is still sore from about three years ago when I visited Iqaluit," joked Ralph Alexander from Resolute.