ASPHALT CRUNCH

Pittsburgh, PennDOT attack early potholes

If bent wheels, lost hubcaps and jarred teeth haven’t been enough to convince motorists that it’s a bad year for potholes, the city of Pittsburgh has the numbers to back it up.

The city’s 311 Response Center has received 3,769 pothole complaints during the past six weeks, more than three times the 1,240 it received during the same period last year. And the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation estimates this is the worst pothole season in more than 20 years.

As a result, both are using every available minute — when they’re not clearing snow or cleaning up after flooding during this rough winter — to patch the craters.

Mike Gable, the city’s public works director, said crews have been out whenever possible filling hundreds of potholes. They began a special effort at 10 p.m. Monday to take advantage of a stretch of warm, dry weather through midday Wednesday to attack the problem all day using crews on 12-hour shifts.

“The potholes are the priority,” Mr. Gable said. “I hope the people will see a recognizable difference in the next couple of days. We’re out there working at every opportunity.” Ditto for PennDOT, said Angelo Pampena, assistant district executive for maintenance for Allegheny, Beaver and Lawrence counties, who said these are the worst road conditions in more than 20 years. His crews are working around the clock five days a week, seven if the weather is bad on weekends.

Both men attributed the potholes to extreme conditions during the past month that have produced wet weather with temperatures ranging from below 0 to near 70 degrees. That allows water from rain

or melting snow to get beneath the road surface when it’s warm, then freeze and expand when the temperature dips below freezing.

“We’re going from 10 below one day to 50 the next and back down again,” Mr. Pampena said. “That’s causing the roads to just bust up.”

Or as Mr. Gable put it, “The asphalt just pops apart.”

In addition, Mr. Pampena said, potholes usually don’t become a major problem until mid-March, when winter is close to being over. The earlier start means it’s more likely the splitting of roads will continue, because cold weather probably isn’t over yet.

That creates another problem because crews can only make temporary fixes at this time of year using cold patch. Hot material — which makes a more permanent repair — isn’t available from asphalt plants until early April.

“The only alternative we have is cold patch,” Mr. Pampena said. “It only works so well. We’ll cold patch one area and then the next day the asphalt breaks right next to it.”

The city’s problems stem from two issues, Mr. Gable said: an old road system that hasn’t been wellcared for in recent years — the city hasn’t paved the recommended annual number of miles of roads in more than two decades — and a less-than-adequate thickness during paving early in the decade to stretch out the number of miles paved.

Under the previous administration of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, when the city was in the throes of the state’s program for financially distressed cities, the city paved streets one year with a coating of 1.5 inches of asphalt or less, Mr. Gable said. The normal thickness for pavement should be 3.5- 4 inches, he said.

As a result, those inadequately paved roads are “unraveling” in some instances, and creating another problem, Mr. Gable said. Those potholes are shallow, which makes them more difficult to fill because the material won’t stick and stay in place.

When the weather does break and hot asphalt is available, crews in many instances will go back to the temporary repairs, dig them out if they haven’t fallen apart already, and make a squared-off hole to fill with longer-lasting material. Until then, motorists should call 1-800-fix-road (1800-349-7623) for potholes on state roads or 311 in Pittsburgh.

“We’re out there and we’ll find them,” Mr. Pampena said. “They’re all over the place.”