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Winter Is Pothole Growing Season For The Delaware Valley

By Carol Erickson

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- When it is wintertime we have to deal with snow, cold weather and of course, potholes.

Potholes are one of the only things that sprout in the wintertime, new ones are added every single day. This year, it is as bad for potholes as we have seen in years.

Road work ahead, more like a headache. It is pothole growing season with a bumper-ruining crop this year.

"You have one here, you have one across, how can you avoid it? You have to hit them," a driver said.

Not that crews are not racing around to fix them, it's just that the weather is trying harder to create potholes.

Freeze and thaw, freeze and thaw. Why in one day this month temperatures went from 61 degrees to 4 degrees!

"Temperature, going up and down, the blacktop expands and then contracts. So that's why we have all these problems with the potholes," a PennDOT worker said.

One little asphalt crack and a lot of traffic over it -- and pop goes the roadway. The washboard streets more likely to result in a tow job based on the vehicle.

"It depend on what kind of car you drive. If you have a big SUV with big tires, its easier to go over the potholes," PennDOT Manager Steve Niknam said.

So a shot of asphalt to soothe the drivers of the Swiss cheese roads and off to the next one, for repair crews and motorists.

You can try to safely avoid them, but report ones you find in Pennsylvania at 1-800-FIX-ROAD.

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