It’s not a number the city is especially proud of but so far in 2019, there have been more than 4,500 complaints and requests to fix potholes.
According to the city’s popular "Get It Done" app, as of 3 p.m. Wednesday, there have been a total of 4,573 pothole complaints in the last 30 days. Of that number, 1,687 have already been repaired.
With more rain in the forecast, that number will continue to grow. But on a day where more rain is expected, pothole repair crews have been diverted to other storm-related tasks.
City of San Diego spokesperson Anthony Santacroce released this statement:
"The strong and frequent rains of late have greatly impacted San Diego roadways and led to the creation of an unusually high amount of potholes in a short amount of time. During intense storms like the city has been experiencing weekly, road repair crews that normally patch up more than 100 potholes a day are reassigned to our storm prep and storm patrol to respond to the most critical storm-related issues such as downed trees, flooding and emergency street repair.
During fair weather and less intense precipitation, road repair crews have been working extended hours to repair potholes and are bolstered by additional staff that normally perform larger asphalt repair, concrete replacement and traffic marking maintenance.
We are eager for a break in this rain long enough to allow us to focus all of our efforts on road repair and to demonstrate the hard work and dedication of City staff in continuing to fix the damage this wet season has imposed on our streets. Safe, drivable and rideable roads remain a top priority of Mayor Faulconer and City of San Diego and that is why the city is deploying all available resources to address this issue."
The pothole problem is not just confined to city streets. There are also potholes on freeways across the county.
Local
A spokesperson for Caltrans says since the beginning of the year, there have been 225 requests to repair potholes on local freeways. As of Wednesday, 141 of those potholes have been repaired.
“Caltrans has four crews in the county repairing potholes after a storm. However, at anytime a crew could be called to help another crew be of an emergency,” said Hayden Manning, of Caltrans.
Meanwhile, county crews have also been busy repairing potholes.
A county spokesperson says so far in 2019, they’ve received 196 pothole reports from the public on it’s "Tell Us Now" app or by phone, or online referrals.
In 2018, there were 583 similar reports in the county using those same sources. There are 11 crews in the field doing road maintenance, including pothole repair.
