Pothole season strikes early
Dramatic rise and fall in temperatures forces roadways to open up
Because of the continuous rise and fall in temperatures in recent weeks, service department crews are already tackling potholes throughout the city on a daily basis. Photo by MELISSA MARTIN
BRUNSWICK – Thanks to an indecisive Mother Nature who can’t seem decide between freezing cold weather or unusually warm temperatures, pothole season is expected to begin much earlier this year.
“That’s the worst thing you can do for a roadway is to have those freeze and thaw cycles,” Service Director Paul Barnett said. “The best thing you can do for a roadway is to have everything freeze up and stay that way until spring.”
Because of the continuous rise and fall in temperatures in recent weeks, Barnett said service department crews are already tackling potholes on a daily basis, especially in the days after cold temperatures switch to extremely unseasonal temperatures, causing the roads to virtually “blow up.”
“When the thaw comes, we know it’s going to happen,” Barnett said. “There’s really nothing you can do to stop it from happening.”
Making matters worse, Barnett said, are the heavy rains the area has encountered in recent weeks.
“You get the heavy water that seeps underneath and then freezes and it blows the hole out even more,” he said.
Because the city’s service department operates with a 12-member road crew, Barnett explained, the same individuals responsible for snow and ice removal in the city are the ones responsible for pothole patching.
“When we’re not doing snow and ice, then we’re doing pothole patching,” he said, noting that some days, the department performs both operations simultaneously.
However, there are times, Barnett explains, that it’s difficult for the city’s road crews to perform road patching.
“When we had all that rain recently,” he said, “we couldn’t do any patching because it’s not going to stick because all of the potholes are full of water.”
Barnett explained the city experienced some very large potholes earlier this winter on North Carpenter Road. Because of the unusually wet weather, however, he said the city was unable to fill the potholes until the water dried.
“In that situation, all we could do was put cones around them and we went back to them when the weather allowed us to actually do the patching and we have some opportunity for the fill material to stay in place,” he said.
Barnett said the city receives several calls throughout the winter as potholes open up in various locations of the city. He said motorists frequently report the potholes and how they’ve damaged a tire, tie rods and other parts of the vehicle and ask the city to pay for the damage.
Motorists, he said, need to remember that “normally, the city does not pay for potholes.”
“Potholes are considered an act of God,” Barnett said, noting that as a result, the city has a reasonable amount of time to fix those potholes once they occur. “It’s the motorist’s responsibility to watch the roads. Slow down and keep your eyes open the best you can.”
If and when motorists do encounter a pothole, Barnett urges them to contact the city’s service department as soon as possible to report them.
“Once we know where they’re at, we schedule them to be repaired as quickly as we can,” he said, noting that the more specific callers are in reporting the location of the potholes, the easier it is for the city to find and repair them.
“If you call and say that the pothole is on the east end of state Route 303, that’s not really helpful,” he said. “But if you call and tell us that the pothole is located in front of a specific address or between two other roadways, that is definitely going to help us a lot more.”
To report potholes, motorists are asked to contact the city’s service department at 330-558-6804.
“That’s the worst thing you can do for a roadway is to have those freeze and thaw cycles,” Service Director Paul Barnett said. “The best thing you can do for a roadway is to have everything freeze up and stay that way until spring.”
Because of the continuous rise and fall in temperatures in recent weeks, Barnett said service department crews are already tackling potholes on a daily basis, especially in the days after cold temperatures switch to extremely unseasonal temperatures, causing the roads to virtually “blow up.”
“When the thaw comes, we know it’s going to happen,” Barnett said. “There’s really nothing you can do to stop it from happening.”
Making matters worse, Barnett said, are the heavy rains the area has encountered in recent weeks.
“You get the heavy water that seeps underneath and then freezes and it blows the hole out even more,” he said.
Because the city’s service department operates with a 12-member road crew, Barnett explained, the same individuals responsible for snow and ice removal in the city are the ones responsible for pothole patching.
“When we’re not doing snow and ice, then we’re doing pothole patching,” he said, noting that some days, the department performs both operations simultaneously.
However, there are times, Barnett explains, that it’s difficult for the city’s road crews to perform road patching.
“When we had all that rain recently,” he said, “we couldn’t do any patching because it’s not going to stick because all of the potholes are full of water.”
Barnett explained the city experienced some very large potholes earlier this winter on North Carpenter Road. Because of the unusually wet weather, however, he said the city was unable to fill the potholes until the water dried.
“In that situation, all we could do was put cones around them and we went back to them when the weather allowed us to actually do the patching and we have some opportunity for the fill material to stay in place,” he said.
Barnett said the city receives several calls throughout the winter as potholes open up in various locations of the city. He said motorists frequently report the potholes and how they’ve damaged a tire, tie rods and other parts of the vehicle and ask the city to pay for the damage.
Motorists, he said, need to remember that “normally, the city does not pay for potholes.”
“Potholes are considered an act of God,” Barnett said, noting that as a result, the city has a reasonable amount of time to fix those potholes once they occur. “It’s the motorist’s responsibility to watch the roads. Slow down and keep your eyes open the best you can.”
If and when motorists do encounter a pothole, Barnett urges them to contact the city’s service department as soon as possible to report them.
“Once we know where they’re at, we schedule them to be repaired as quickly as we can,” he said, noting that the more specific callers are in reporting the location of the potholes, the easier it is for the city to find and repair them.
“If you call and say that the pothole is on the east end of state Route 303, that’s not really helpful,” he said. “But if you call and tell us that the pothole is located in front of a specific address or between two other roadways, that is definitely going to help us a lot more.”
To report potholes, motorists are asked to contact the city’s service department at 330-558-6804.