‘Tis the season for lots of good things – and also for potholes.
The wild temperature fluctuations we experience in winter, coupled with ice and snow storms, are especially hard on asphalt roadways, which make up the majority of our road, street and highway surfaces.
Water seeps into cracks, freezes at night, expands and widens those cracks. Then along come cars and trucks and a section of the roadway crumbles and collapses, creating a pothole that may range from inches to feet in diameter.
Not only are potholes unsightly, they can damage vehicles. Pothole patching is a constant battle for those agencies responsible for road and street maintenance.
State and interstate highways are the responsibility of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. The Oklahoma Turnpike Authority maintains toll roads, and each municipality is responsible for streets within their city limits.
The rest is left to county road crews operating within each county commissioner’s district. In District Two, we have hundreds of miles of roads in unincorporated areas, many in rural sections.
Our District Two crews operate a patch truck with the primary responsibility of finding and quickly filling potholes. We use a combination of asphalt and gravel to get a stronger, longer lasting patch.
The patch truck operates several days each week, scouting county roads in the district for potholes and also responding to reports from the public. That can sometimes be confusing for motorists who may encounter a troublesome pothole on Road X but be unaware who, exactly, is responsible for maintaining it.
The best rule of thumb is if you find a pothole on a street in town, call city hall. If it’s on a highway, call ODOT. If it is in a rural area, contact your county commissioner. The best number to report a pothole in Oklahoma County District Two is our maintenance barn at 713-2379.
Of course safe driving is important too. Going too fast on rural roads is dangerous, since it’s easy to hit a pothole (or a deer or cow) and severely damage your vehicle. Keep a special lookout for potholes after snow and ice have melted, and if you see one let us, or the proper agency, know where it is.
