ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – All the rain we’ve received lately has led to potholes across the area.
The Missouri Department of Transportation is asking drivers to be on the lookout for slow-moving patching operations.
“It’s been a tremendously wet spring and we’ve had some issues, quite a bit with potholes in particular,” Bob Becker, MoDOT district maintenance engineer, said. “It’s lasted a lot longer time this year than it normally does because of all the rain.”
Becker said MoDOT has enough crews to make those repairs and they will be working around the clock to get it done.
“I’ll spend $15 to $20 million a year on potholes, and it takes a lot. Not just the product itself, but the people to get out there, because we’ve got to have a large train of people, two or three teams, because it is a moving operation, typically,” he said. “So, we’ve got a lot of people out there. A lot of equipment out there.”
According to MoDOT, moisture from the rain seeps into cracks and joints in the pavement, which causes the pavement to bulge. When cars drive over the brittle sections of the roadway, chunks of pavement will break off, leaving behind a pothole.
Driver Delores Martin said she’s hit several potholes over the last couple of months and she’s glad to see MoDOT crews making repairs.
“I’ve been driving through the county, city, and everywhere; there’s nothing but potholes. And I ran over a pothole. A rock popped out and cracked my windshield and put a little crack in there,” she said. “But I’m glad that they’re out repairing potholes to make sure that we don’t have to live like this.”
Authorities encourage motorists to report potholes at MoDOT.org.