Weeks of wet weather are taking a serious toll on North Texas roads. In the last month, cities are seeing hundreds of potholes pop-up or get worse.
Across the region, crews are working during the rain-free days to repair the potholes before they send your vehicle to a repair shop.
“If you fill during the rain then it doesn’t stay, it just washes away. So, you’re just wasting your time and a lot of time after rain events we have to go back to potholes we’ve been at before,” said Plano Public Works Director Jerry Cosgrove. “Sometimes it’s new potholes, sometimes it’s existing ones that have fallen apart.”
We reached out to several North Texas cities for a snapshot of their pothole situations.
For the months of August and September:
• Plano – 234
• Fort Worth – 257
• Arlington – 170
Crews in Plano work daily from 7 a.m. through 3 p.m. on potholes. Crew members said they are ready for some cooler weather to make it a little easier to work outside, but know that cooler weather with exacerbate the issue in some extreme cases.
“That change in temperature a lot of times will have an impact as well. Concrete moves when the temperature changes so that can cause the pothole to dislodge,” Cosgrove said. “If the water gets in there and freezes, it can cause that pothole to break up.”
Cosgrove said that rainfall has more of an impact than falling temperatures.
Plano asks residents to report potholes through Fix It Plano. Requests may be submitted via the city’s website, as well as the Fix It Plano app, text message or phone.
The number to call or text service requests to Fix It Plano is 469-77FIX-IT or 469-773-4948.
