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Jessica Fisher

Filling Spokane’s Potholes

Jessica Fisher, Public Information Assistant, No Phone Number Available

Friday, February 24, 2017 at 3:35 p.m.

This winter the Inland Northwest has seen record precipitation, severe freezing and a series of freeze-thaw cycles. These conditions have caused numerous potholes throughout the City of Spokane. Here is what the city is doing in order to improve the safety and drivability of our streets.

The Street Department has filled 1,291 potholes since the start of the year. Crews have been working on pothole repairs up to 20 hours a day on both day and night shifts. The City of Spokane recognizes that more work needs to be done, so we have created a series of immediate actions that will improve driving conditions. Here’s what’s happening:

  • The city will be adding additional two-person teams from the City’s Water and Wastewater departments to assist Street crews with pothole repairs.
  • The Street Department is testing additional pothole filling materials to determine if they can provide longer-lasting repairs on the busiest arterials. This includes a polymer-based product that requires the area around a repair to be closed to traffic for several hours of curing.
  • The City has collaborated with Inland Asphalt to open their plant early. This will allow crews to use hot-mix asphalt, which provides a much better repair compared to the cold-mix our crews have been using. Inland Asphalt’s plant is expected to open the week of March 6th.
  • Street crews will also be testing a new piece of equipment for repairing potholes that allows greater compaction and potentially a longer-lasting repair.

In addition, the Street Department will be identifying arterial streets with multiple potholes or more significant deterioration. These areas will be prioritized based on the extent of the damage and where these sections are located. Some repairs will have to wait until the ground is dry. Arterials that may pose a hazard to drivers will be evaluated for selected closures until more permanent repairs can be made. The 2017 grind and overlay schedule will be examined to see if some projects need to be reprioritized based on winter damage.

We ask citizen to continue reporting potholes. Please report potholes by calling 311 or 755-CITY (2489) if you are outside Spokane city limits. Potholes can also be reported online through the My Spokane 311’s report tool. When reporting a pothole please include as much information as possible on the location of the pothole and its approximate size. The Streets Department prioritizes larger potholes on arterials and aims to fill them within 48 hours of reporting.

For more information on pothole repairs visit the City’s website.

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