The Department of Transportation has initiated a statewide and month long “Missouri Pothole Patrol” effort to patch-up potholes as quickly as possible to keep Missouri highways smooth and safe for motorists.
Maintenence liason Todd Miller says the amount of potholes found in roads throughout the state are weather related. “A lot of times, during the end of Winter and transitioning into Spring, the water on the ground freezes at night and thaws out in the day time. It will drain underneath the pavement and freezes,” he said. “And when water freezes, it expands and pushes the pavement up and possibly out to cause a pothole .”
Miller also says the transition to warmer weather is also the time of year when it’s important to have a focused effort on fixing potholes. “This is the time of the year that we have the most amount of potholes out there,” he said. “We’ve gotten ourselves through the snow where we’ve been hard on our pavements through our snow fight operations and now we’re into a freeze at night and thaw during the day time of the year where we start to see more potholes appear.”
He says a competition has also been set up a competition amongst regional districts to see how many potholes they can repair, which Miller says is the second important part of the effort. He says the most important aspect is to make sure the potholes are patched up correctly. He says the regional district with the best pothole clean up receives $1,000 towards their budget to spend on equipment and other materials.
The month long, statewide effort runs through April 14.
AUDIO: Mary Farucci reports. (:56)