Crews Work To Repair Pothole-Littered Roads In Camden County
By Cleve Bryan
PENNSAUKEN, N.J., (CBS) -- If you think you're commute is getting a little bumpy these days you're not alone.
Those bumps and potholes -- it seems you can't drive one mile without hitting one these days.
And patching crews can't seem to catch up fast enough.
"I've never seen as many potholes in my life and they're deep," Stephanie Uff said.
It doesn't take long driving through South Jersey to see it's been a tough winter on the roads.
"I think there's more potholes than asphalt on some of these roads," Trevor Taniguichi said.
Camden County Public Works Department took advantage of a little sunshine Monday to fix up some of the roads littered with potholes.
"Well we have a list of 20 right now to try and get done today and we'll just go as long as we can and hopefully the weather can cooperate with us," Jimmy Johnson of Camden County Public Works said.
Being Presidents Day it was just skeleton crew doing pothole repairs, but county officials say on most weekdays now, their crews are putting down 30 tons of asphalt.
"We fill them up as best we can, we'll rake it out smooth, pound it out and then we'll actually roll it over with the truck too," Johnson said.
Cold weather patches are not intended to last long term and can wear away in the next storm, but officials say it's worth the cost to minimize accidents.
As we found when we mounted a camera to the side of our news truck, you can't swerve to avoid every pothole and if you try you might hit another car doing the same thing.
Stopping for repair trucks can be annoying, but take it from the guys doing the work -- they're trying to make you safe.
"If they see us out here just be patient with us," Johnson said. "As the weather gets warmer we can go out ad permanently fix them, we can cut them out, this whole section for here we can cut it out, patch it up and it'll be done with."
Speaking of "done with it" - potholes are yet another reason people are getting tired of winter.
"The snow days now are just kind of nuisances. I'm kind of ready to get on with it, ready for spring," said.
Potholes bad in your area? Send us your #cbs3potholepatrol photos here.
