Potholes popping up in Pittsburgh area after recent freeze-thaw cycle
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Winter includes many things: cold, snow and potholes.
With the Pittsburgh area finished with a freeze-thaw cycle, the potholes are starting to pop up.
McKnight Road sees thousands of drivers a day, and drivers are dodging potholes. PennDOT said its crews are patching holes, as well as finding new ones.
"You're almost at the mercy of the pothole and the weather," PennDOT District 11 Assistant District Executive Lori Musto said.
The brief resemblance of winter followed by the thaw and subsequent rain has made some potholes pop up like unwanted weeds. The rain made it a challenge for crews because it could ruin the repairs.
"It's just a challenge with all the other work we're doing. We're still working on cleaning up the 10th Street Bypass," Musto said.
For road crews at the municipal level, like Cranberry Township, they are in the same boat. While they haven't seen as many yet, they still have their crew out patching what they come across.
"We just do a temporary patch to get us through the winter, and sometimes we have to do that more than once," Cranberry Township Director of Public Works Kelly Maurer said.
For drivers, you want to do your best to avoid them at all costs. If you get a flat tire or worse, that can be hundreds of dollars in damage, let alone the safety aspect and trying to pull over on certain roads.
"The priority is the safety of the motoring public if somebody hits a pothole, it can be a safety concern," Maurer said.
Now, what is used to repair the holes is not a permanent fix. Crews do what is called a cold patch. Its goal is to make the road passable until the spring comes and a permanent fix can come.
"We clean out the hole the best we can. We shovel the cold patch in the hole. We compact it quickly, the best we can. We move on knowing that we will be back to make a permanent repair," Musto said.
PennDOT said if you want to call in a pothole, call 1-800-349-7623 to let crews know where to find the issue. Some municipalities have similar hotlines or online forms to let them know where any potholes may be.
