Potholes By The Numbers

By Margaret Lyons in News on Jan 10, 2008 6:40PM

As we read John Hilkevitch's story about potholes today, a few things caught our interest. Mostly numbers, to the shock of no one:

++ 271,000 potholes were filled last year.

++ A city foreman says in one day, they'll fill "200 to 300 [potholes] and use 11 tons of material," which means it takes roughly 88 pounds of material to fill a pothole. Does that seem like a lot? It does to us. This is apparently right on.

++ Drivers reported 1,422 potholes via 311, and those only represent about 20 percent of the potholes the City repairs.

++ The City has more than 3,800 miles of roads.

++ Hilkevitch uses the phrase "Good fortune will be needed to prevent a record outbreak of chuckholes...." Say it out loud. It's like an angel whispering sweet nothings in your ear; just reading it over and over makes our eyeballs giggle. Chuckhole. Good fortune and chuckholes. Meeehehehehe.

Giganto pothole on Chicago and Cicero by Eloise Mason