INDIANAPOLIS — It’s been a hot start to pothole season thanks in part to the back-and-forth nature of Indiana weather.
This winter brought consecutive days of freezing temps and as we’ve started to get close to spring, the Hoosier state can’t seem to make up its mind – going back and forth between snow and sunshine.
This means water seeping into the cracks and crevices in the roads, freezing when temperatures get colder and then creating potholes when the temperatures rise again. Already in 2024, Indianapolis Dept. of Public Works crews have filled more than 92,000 potholes.
“Which when you think last year was around 300,000 potholes for the entire year, that’s a lot just in the first two months,” said Corey Ohlenkamp with DPW.
The back-and-forth weather has also been tough on crews, many that work filling potholes drive snowplows, as well.
“During this time of the season, we know we can get very busy depending on what mother nature wants to throw at us,” Ohlenkamp said.
However, with record-breaking warm weather on Monday, crews were back out across the city trying to fill as many potholes as possible.
“They’re just walking behind a truck, they’re picking one location and they’re moving all the way down that roadway,” Ohlenkamp said.
FOX59/CBS4 tagged along with a crew on the south side of the city Monday. Korey Phillips, Michael Crain, Josh Hall, Devien Williams and Rodney Martin were filling potholes on Hill Valley Drive.
Reporter Eric Graves became an adopted crew member for an hour or so and learned every part of the job. Korey and Eric started by shoveling hot mix asphalt out of the 200-degree hotbox the workers followed around. Any decent-sized pothole would get multiple shovelfuls.
Then, Michael showed Eric how to make the patches look good by using a large, rake-like tool to line up the asphalt and smooth it down.
“You don’t want to make speed bumps so just keep on working it back and forth,” he said.
Once the patch was smooth, Rodney came in to tamp down the pothole and ensured that it was solid for when cars began to drive past.
These are the steps for each pothole, some are smaller and can be faster but each is time consuming and labor intensive. Ohlenkamp said he hopes this gives drivers a better appreciation for what these workers are up against as they work day in and day out.
“You can imagine 8 hours a day, lifting heavy, hot material, putting it into a hole,” he said, “And just continuing down the roadway all day every day for as many days as we’ve got good weather to address these potholes.”
The DPW crews have a big job ahead. At 5 p.m. on Monday, the Indy Pothole Viewer showed over 2,300 open potholes across Marion County with more opening every day. Ohlenkamp said crews fill an average of about 800 potholes a day.
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