Chicago Fields Record Number Of Pothole Damage Claims

By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 2, 2014 6:10PM

Chuck Sudo/Chicagoist

With winter effectively over the city is ostensibly hard at work repairing potholes but they have their work cut out for them if the number of damage claims filed with the City Clerk’s office is any indication. Could potholes, instead of an inability to plow streets, be Rahm Emanuel’s “Bilandic moment?”

More than 1,100 vehicle damage claims from potholes were introduced during Wednesday’s City Council meeting. City Clerk’s office spokesman Pat Corcoran said that number is the most they’ve ever seen. That’s on top of 305 claims introduced during February’s City Council meeting. The city fielded only 743 pothole damage claims in 2013.

That number could conceivably be higher if more drivers believed they had a shot at actually being reimbursed by the city for damage from driving over one of Chicago’s many asphalt divots. The byzantine process involves forwarding the claims to the City Council Finance Committee after they’ve been introduced at a Council meeting. From there it can take up to 18 months for a driver to receive reimbursement if the Finance Committee determines the claim is warranted, and they do so with a simple “yay” or “nay” vote. Last year the Finance Committee paid $181,217 on the claims that were filed—$240 per claim.

Emanuel has been trying to get the pothole epidemic under control for months and has called for repaving 85 miles of arterial streets at a cost of $1 million per mile. Funding for the program will come from a $14 million in state money, $8 million in tax increment financing and a $66 million fund where aldermen can choose what neighborhood improvements take priority.