DOT: ‘Wild temperature swings’ mean more potholes
If you’ve noticed more potholes than usual, you’re not alone. State officials say temperature fluctuations are resulting in more pothole reports earlier in the year.
The state Department of Transportation breaks the state up into four districts. DOT’s district one, for example, is comprised of central Connecticut including Hartford. There were 361 reported potholes in district one over the course of 2023, according to state data.
In district two, which includes the eastern portion of the state from New London and Old Saybrook to the Northeastern corner, there were a total of 131 potholes reported on state roads last year.
District three, which covers the coast from Greenwich to Branford, had 266 potholes reported in 2023 and district four, the Northwest Corner, had 306 reported potholes.
“It’s about 1,200 pothole complaints we get every year,” State Department of Transportation spokesman Josh Morgan said. Last year, there were a total of 1,064 pothole complaints on state roads.
In every district, the number of pothole reports jumps significantly in March and April. The numbers tend to fluctuate month to month, and then decline again in November, as the weather begins to get cold.
July was the worst single month for potholes last year, with 149 potholes reported on state roads.
Morgan said that data, based on information received from the public at the DOT’s call center, does not include potholes that are not reported, or potholes that were seen and repaired by crews at one of the agency’s 50 garages or potholes identified by the DOT.
As such, Morgan believes that data is “probably a little under reported.” It also only covers potholes on state roads, as potholes on local roads are managed by the individual municipalities.
Morgan explained that what happens is, the water in the asphalt freezes and expands, then it thaws out. Maybe there’s a hairline crack in the asphalt. Then the water freezes again and thaws again and all the while cars are driving over the crack as it gets wider bit by bit. Eventually that tiny crack has become a divot, and the asphalt caves leaving a bump in the road we call a pothole.
“The weather in the last couple of years has been a little different than maybe historically in terms of how much snow we’re getting. We’re getting a lot more rain these last few years,” Morgan said. “Just a few weeks ago, it was like 60 or something like that over the weekend, and then it was snowing like four days later. So these wild temperature swings certainly are not helpful for the asphalt.”
That is resulting in more pothole reports earlier in the year than there used to be.
“Towards the end of January, when we had that unseasonably warm weather followed by some cold, we had more calls than normally we would get in January, because usually it’s March, April, when we really start getting those inquiries,” he said. “We’re certainly getting a lot more rain than we’ve ever had before.”
The other issue, Morgan explained, is that “you can’t really pave a road in the middle of winter because there’s not enough asphalt out there.”
Asphalt must be warmed, and though the state does have the technology to warm enough asphalt to repair potholes, the roads cannot be completely redone until spring, though that does not mean a patched pothole is any less secure.
“We have equipment and technology now that is better than it’s ever been,” he said. “So when we’re putting out these patches, when we’re filling these potholes, that they’re going to last longer that they’re not going to just open up again in two weeks time for the next freezethaw cycle.”
The state tracks the amount of road in lane miles — so that one mile of road with two lanes would be considered two lane miles, because “when we’re talking about how much asphalt we need to have out there, how much equipment we need to have to clear a road, it’s not clearing one mile, it’s clearing four lane miles,” Morgan said. By that metric, he said the state maintains 11,000 lane miles of roadway.
“There’s a lot of road,” he said.
Morgan said it’s “so helpful and so fantastic when the public reaches out to us through our call center,” because, “we can’t fix what we don’t know is broken, right?”
To report a pothole on a state road, the DOT’s Customer Care Center can be reached by phone at 860-594-2560, email at DOT.CustomerCare@ct.gov or at CT.gov/ DOT.
July was the worst single month for potholes last year, with 149 potholes reported on state roads.