Potholes: We see them every day. And this year, San Antonio Transportation and Capital Improvements (TCI) says they're fixing a record number of them.
"Last year we did a record number, about 75,000 for the year,” TCI Street Operations Manager Frank Orta said. “Right now, we are at 67,000 through the end of July. We average about 360 day so we are well on our way to pretty much break that record."
The city has an incredible amount of manpower covering 4,000 miles of roadway across San Antonio.
"We have 12 conventional trucks and four spray patchers, and our trucks are out there. They are responding and looking for potholes but they are human and we miss quite a bit," Orta said.
Here's how a pothole forms. Take a normal road which is covered by asphalt. Over time that asphalt expands and cracks develop. Once we get rain, and it doesn't have to be a lot of rain, that moisture seeps through the cracks, gets under the asphalt eventually creating a cavity or empty space. The asphalt then falls into that cavity creating of a pothole.
When you call in to report a pothole it's important to note where the pothole is and also the size, because these conventional crews can only fix potholes that are three feet by three feet. For larger pot holes they have to send out a different crew to fix those.
"Our spray patchers are usually on more highly traveled corridors. More arteries and connectors. That's more of a one-man crew, which uses a little different bit of material,” Orta said.
Regardless of the material or size of the pothole, TCI needs your help to get them all.
"We know the public knows where they are at, because they drive it more than we do, and they help us out by calling them and finding them," Orta said.
That number to call is 3-1-1.