PennDOT's Pothole Patrol Using Mild Weather To Catch Up On Repairs In Delaware County
GLEN MILLS, Pa. (CBS) -- The pothole patrol is on the move across the tri-state area. Some car owners who have hit those holes in the road are paying big money for repairs.
The first day of spring is just a month away. It's about the time of year when huge potholes start popping up more and more on the road. PennDOT is taking advantage of this mild weather to catch up on repairs.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation was out in full force Thursday repairing some of Delaware County's biggest potholes.
"We're using every man possible, every woman possible, to go out there and try to patch," said Tony Goreski, PennDOT's county manager for Delaware County.
The road that gets the most pothole complaints in Delaware County is U.S. 322 between Cherry Tree Road and Garnet Mine Road.
"Some of the potholes are absurdly ridiculous," Alex Kurlowicz said. "They've been there for years and it's the same spot year after year, so I just don't understand."
Potholes tend to form at the bottom of a hill.
"We've also had some issues down in Concord, in Chadds Ford Township on 202 as well as some of our smaller secondary roads," Goreski said. "They're starting to show fatiguing as well."
Last year, the agency spent more than $8 million on pothole repairs.
Fixing a pothole isn't as simple as pouring in material to fill the void.
Crews have to cut and replace the asphalt around the hole, which could take hours.
"For a good, thorough pothole repair, you want to basically square off every area within about an additional foot to a foot and a half to two feet outside of where the actual hole is," Goreski said, "because we anticipate there's additional fatiguing and additional cracking under the surface."
PennDOT says their maintenance and contractor crews will be working on more than 60 state highways next week to repair deteriorated pavement across the five-county Philadelphia region, so be on the lookout for lane closures and delays.
