Fewer Potholes In City Streets, So Far...

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jan 14, 2010 3:40PM

If there's a silver lining to the long stretch of frigid weather we've had this season, it's that there's been a limit to the freeze-thaw cycles. In fact, this is really our first thaw in three weeks. And that means fewer potholes on city streets to swallow up our cars and bikes. Of course, it's only mid-January; the real freeze-thaw cycle won't start until into mid-March. Still, that's not stopping the city's Department of Transportation from bragging about the lack of potholes so far and the new, tougher material used on the roads that are proving more resistant to potholes. The Tribune notes that last year the city spent $35 million in stimulus money to repave 31 miles of arterial streets (we bet the streets the IOC traveled last spring are still looking nice). The city's stats say that 12,000 less potholes have been filled so far this winter (45,000 last year compared to 33,000 this year) but, as we noted, there's a long way to go. Come back to us in April when people are putting trashcans in potholes as safety measures and we'll discuss this new "resistant" material then.