Recent Weather Roller-Coaster Has City Busy Filling Potholes
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The wild temperature swings we've been seeing lately in the Chicago area have produced a bumper crop of potholes on the streets.
"We expect to see more potholes forming in the next couple of weeks," Chicago Department of Transportation spokesman Pete Scales said.
WBBM Newsradio's Regine Schlesinger reports Scales said CDOT crews have been filling about 200 potholes a day.
Over the past couple weeks, CDOT crews have filled about 3,000 potholes, Scales said.
"Eighty percent of those were ones that our own crews spotted out on the street," he said.
Rising Number Of Potholes
So far, the city hasn't been hearing much in the way of pothole complaints from drivers, according to Scales.
But with the recent rain and snow, and the repeated freeze-thaw cycles, he expects those complaints to increase.
"When water gets into cracks in the street surface, it expands and contracts when the changes," he said. "When you add the weight of vehicle traffic, it weakens the asphalt, and that causes a pothole."
The city filled 350,000 potholes last year.
To report a pothole, Chicago residents can call 311, or at cityofchicago.org.
