Crews Exceed Mayor's Pothole-Patching Goal

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The city of Columbus says crews have exceeded Mayor Coleman's pothole-patching goal two weeks ahead of schedule.

NBC 4 reported with the FAST FACTS from the mayor's office.

Pothole-patching crews have fixed 25,447 potholes since March 1, surpassing Mayor Michael B. Coleman's goal to repair nearly double the 12,400 potholes fixed in March 2009.

Coleman announced the intensified pothole repair initiative during his 11th Annual State of the City address Feb. 24.

The pothole crews are the same employees who serve as the city's snow-plow operators.

The goal of patching about 24,000 potholes was based, in part, on March's traditionally volatile and unpredictable weather.

Crews took advantage of the milder weather to patch potholes at a brisk pace, free of the snow, freezing rain and rain that typically prevent pothole repair.

Coleman devoted additional resources to the pothole-repair initiative, including the filling two existing vacant street maintenance investigator positions, bringing the total number of investigators to the full contingent of six.

Crews have worked 12-hour shifts day and night, including some overtime.

City of Columbus Pothole-Patching Facts
The city patches potholes on city streets and parts of state Routes 315, 33 and 104 that are in the city limits.

ODOT is responsible for patching potholes on Interstate 70, I-71, I-270 and I-670

Crews are responsible for 6,348 lane miles of roadway. The effort is measured in lane miles because potholes can occur in each lane of a roadway. A lane mile is defined as one mile of roadway multiplied by the number of lanes in the roadway. For example: one-mile stretch of roadway multiplied by five lanes in the roadway equal five lane miles.

Policy and practice:
The process for patching potholes begins two different ways: Residents contact 311 (call 311 or 645-3111) to notify the city of the location of a pothole. The locations are then forwarded to the Department of Public Service to be scheduled for patching. Separate from, and in addition to, 311 requests, Department of Public Service crews are routinely deployed to locate and patch potholes. These deployments are proactive standard practice that works in tandem with 311 requests to find and patch potholes.

Priority:
The city’s standard: Potholes are typically patched within three days after a service request is filed with 311 to do so. This standard may go beyond three days because of: a very large volume of potholes being reported. In these instances, the standard is to patch potholes as soon as possible. A snow, ice or rain storm prohibits pothole patching.

Total potholes patched:
2009: 114,475 potholes patched
2008: 115,390 potholes patched
2007: 70,183 potholes patched
2006: 70,618 potholes patched

Total cost for asphalt (hot mix and cold mix) purchased to patch potholes:
2009: $355,390.84 (5,044.51 tons)
2008: $391,132.73 (6,946.61 tons)
2007: $183,910.50 (5,170.24 tons)
2006: $177,550.03 (4,685.89 tons)

Tons of hot patch used:
2009: 3,100 tons
2008: 3,208 tons
2007: 2,636 tons
2006: 3,367 tons

Tons of cold patch used:
2009: 793 tons
2008: 1,006 tons
2007: 558 tons
2006: 402 tons

Pothole patchers have other job responsibilities including, but not limited to snow removal, street cleaning, alley surfacing treatment, mowing, underpass cleaning and graffiti removal.

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