When you get enough rain to end a drought, there’s going to be collateral damage.
We’re talking about our roads, where many area drivers have noticed a few extra potholes popping up on our local streets.
Ten months into the year, we have had more than 36 inches of rain…our yearly average is just over 31 inches. The more rain, the more potholes, and Corpus Christi has no shortage of potholes.
Days of rain, on top of an already rainy year, are causing pavement problems across the Coastal Bend. City road crews have been taking advantage of the dry weather over the past few days to fill potholes.
“They are out looking for them even when we don’t get work orders. We have 2 crews who regularly go and fill potholes, but once the work orders start coming in, we anticipate we will get a lot more of those work orders in, and we can have up to 18 crews filling potholes,” saidPublic Works Information Officer Michelle Villarreal Leschper.
Water gets through those cracks and weakens the soil under the road. That leads to even more cracking and eventually a pothole.
“They have been pretty busy. Last month alone they had about 320 work orders, and even when we don’t get work orders in though, they are out kind of patrolling really high traffic areas to make sure they proactively fill those potholes before we get the call in,” said Leschper.
Public works says its crews have been busy all year filling potholes but extremely busy over the past 4 months with all the rain we have received.
“We have had a lot of rain within the last 4 months and so we have had about 1,250 work orders just for potholes. When we do have the rains, we do see the increase in potholes and the work orders for them,” said Leschper.
Crews prioritize which potholes are fixed first based on the number and severity on certain streets or whether potholes are impeding traffic on a busy road.
“We really encourage all of our citizens to call those in 826-CITY number because if you are driving it every day, it is more likely you are going to see it first before we are,” said Leschper.
While crews keep an eye out for potholes, they also rely on tips from the public.
People can report potholes through the city’s app or by calling the city at 361-826-CITY (2489).
