City launches ‘pothole blitz’ on roads savaged by winter weather
Richmond kicked off a “pothole blitz” Wednesday that will deploy Department of Public Works staff to all corners of the city to fill hundreds of potholes that have emerged during a winter of brutal cold, snow and ice.
DPW Director Bobby Vincent said the goal is to fill about 200 potholes daily, with five to six crews dispersed every day to different neighborhoods. At the same time, the department will restripe faded crosswalks to make sure they remain visible.
While the official pothole blitz is scheduled to end March 13, “the pothole crews themselves will continue working overtime until we get our numbers down,” said Vincent.
Because winter’s cycles of freezing and thawing weaken asphalt, leading to cracks and then potholes, early spring is always a busy time for roadwork, and pothole blitzes have been a popular solution.
But the severe winter storm that deposited slabs of ice several inches thick on Richmond’s roads this January appears to have worsened the situation.
“This storm on our roads was brutal,” said Richmond Chief Administrative Officer Odie Donald II. “And so because it was brutal and it was so difficult for us to repair and get in a good place … we’ve got to make sure that we fill all of the potholes and the things that ended up causing damage to our roads.”
Most take only several minutes to fill. According to Erica Wilson, an equipment operator with DPW, workers deposit a layer of tack — a material that helps the patch bind to the roadway — followed by asphalt, which is spread and then tamped down either with a machine or by hand.
Complaints about road conditions have been growing over the past few weeks. Paige Hairston, a spokeswoman for DPW, said that since Jan. 1, the department had completed almost 1,291 service tickets for potholes. An additional 733 are still open.
“The department is getting calls for potholes repairs daily so the number will change daily,” she said.
A search for “potholes” on the city’s 311 system turns up an array of complaints.
“There is a large deep pothole in the middle of the road,” said one from West Marshall Street. “Large pothole that popped my tire,” read another from Hermitage Road. “Gigantic potholes. Super dangerous and damaging to cars,” reported a citizen on West Grace. One enterprising Richmonder measured a Bainbridge Street pothole as having “a diameter of about 3 ft” and a depth of 9 inches.
Donald urged Richmond residents to continue reporting the potholes they find through the 311 platform.
“We want to hear from you so we can make sure we deliver,” he said.
Contact Reporter Sarah Vogelsong at svogelsong@richmonder.org
