Minneapolis gaining ground on its big pothole problem
MINNEAPOLIS – Minneapolis drivers have bemoaned the city's potholes for months, but some are finally starting to notice improvements.
On Lake Harriet Parkway Sunday, drivers dealt with some particularly bad stretches.
"They got to get some money and fix this," one man said.
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Tom Olson, who lives nearby, says he pulled off the boulevard last week for fear of damaging an axle.
"It was riddled with potholes," Olson said. "Super rough. Unusually, I mean very unusual."
He worries what the roads say to newcomers.
"If we want to attract people to this city, think of people who are coming in to see our jewels, our lake system, the Mall of America, all of that stuff. That's a very poor first impression," he said.
The city promised 200 permanent pothole repairs a day once warmer weather came around, and until then, crews were using an asphalt and gravel mixture for a temporary fix.
"On my block...when the snow melted, there was a giant pothole and they filled it this week," a woman walking by Lake Harriet said.
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Hennepin Avenue has had many of its potholes north of Lake Street patched up.
"There's been a lot of patching this spring but no real reconstruction," another driver said.
"Potholes are a fact of Minnesota life. They always have been, but this is outstanding in its badness," Olson said.
WCCO reached out to the city Sunday for a progress report on pothole repair and didn't immediately hear back.