Pothole Palooza: Salt Lake City aims to fill 6,000 potholes in a week
Apr 11, 2023, 5:19 PM | Updated: 6:39 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — Most Utahns have potholes on their regular driving routes that make them cringe each time they hit them. But their crews are tackling the problem in Salt Lake City starting Monday.
Salt Lake City officials said Utah’s roads have really taken a beating during this snow season, so it’s all hands on deck this week for Pothole Palooza.
“With this freeze-thaw cycle that pops those potholes out, we’re seeing an incredible amount of potholes,” said Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall as she picked up a shovel and helped with a couple of potholes.
The Salt Lake City Department of Public Services is taking advantage of this beautiful change in the weather to repair some badly damaged roads.
With the exceptional amount of snow that fell early, and the volume of sand and salt spread over the roads to cut the ice, potholes have popped up on many of our streets. Pothole Palooza is a weeklong road repair blitz to improve the overall quality of the roads in the city.
“They are responding to ones that you might report through the SLC Mobile app. But their directive is to get out there and fill every pothole that they see whether or not it’s been reported,” Mendenhall said.
Road crews plan to patch 6000 potholes this week alone.
“Just yesterday, our crews filled 1300 potholes,” the Salt Lake City mayor said.
Last year, city crews filled 18,000 potholes. This year, from January through March, they’ve already filled 19,000 potholes. The stormy weather accelerated the freeze-and-thaw cycle.
“These conditions allow potholes to form and existing ones to expand. So, this record-breaking winter has obviously caused this to be more severe,” said Julie Crookston, deputy director of SLC Public Services. “So, if you think you are seeing more potholes, you’re not crazy.“
You can report a pothole on the SLC Mobile app or by contacting the streets department. The mayor said she plans to make this a regular event.
