Streets in Stanislaus County are riddled with potholes. The numbers may surprise you
The heavy storms this year caused thousands of potholes to develop on city streets and roads in Stanislaus County.
Modesto streets usually have 10,000 to 15,000 potholes by this time of the year, but with the extreme weather that hammered the state, the city has tallied 25,000 reported potholes since January, Public Works Director Bill Sandhu said Wednesday.
When it comes to potholes, the city is faced with doing a quick repair or taking action to keep a larger hole from damaging vehicles.
“As a pothole is reported, our goal is to respond within 24 hours,” Sandhu said.
Social media sites were filled with pothole complaints after atmospheric river storms swept across California in January and March. Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger attracted attention with a tweet Tuesday of himself and neighbors doing their own minor pavement repair in Southern California.
The former governor says on the video that three weeks had passed since the problem was reported to the city.
Although a person probably would not get in legal trouble for patching a public street, as did the former governor, it is not advisable, said Stanislaus County Public Works Director David Leamon.
“We would highly discourage it,” Leamon said. “It is not safe being on the road. You don’t have reflective gear. It’s not safe behavior. Call it in, please.”
The heavy storms, dropping inches of rain, take a terrible toll on roads, he said.
The rainwater works into cracks in the pavement, and as more water intrudes, it weakens the underlying subgrade, Leamon said. The pressure of large trucks and cars creates a weak spot in the pavement, leaving a pothole.
Sandhu said that after extensive rain, the city usually sees a break in the weather. This year, it was storm after storm.
When the pavement is wet, city crews can use a “hydropatch,” or a “cold mix,” to smooth over a pothole as a temporary solution for the road hazard. Crews return in the warmer spring and summer months for a permanent repair with hot asphalt.
Sandhu said the majority of the potholes this year still are pending a permanent repair.
He did not have an estimate on the cost of the street repairs. Public Works will keep working its way through the permanent pothole fixes this year. Sandhu said the temporary patching can last longer on residential streets.
500 tons of asphalt for county roads
Leamon said that potholes are the No. 1 complaint of motorists and that county Public Works has taken care of 2,500 of them already this year. The county has responded to fill triple the number of potholes compared to a year ago. Crews have applied 400 tons of cold mix and 100 tons of hot mix as drier conditions have allowed.
Leamon said the temporary repairs on county roads can last for a couple of years. The county is running one or two trucks daily that venture out as far as Newman and Milton to patch roads.
The county expects to acquire one-man road-patching equipment by next year, which will allow the driver to stay in the cab as potholes are repaired.
Potholes in Turlock
The city of Turlock has received 750 pothole reports from the public since Jan. 1. Public Works office staff said 741 potholes have been fixed and nine are in need of repair.
The city was getting eight to 10 pothole complaints every few hours during the stormy months, but that has died down to one or two per day, a city employee said.
Most of the holes were patched with cold-mix asphalt, but a hot mix truck was deployed to repair a large pothole on North Johnson Road. The road damage on Johnson generated complaints because a water puddle concealed it from motorists until it was marked off, the city said.
Modesto city residents can report potholes by calling 209-342-2244 or can submit a report online.
County residents can use a Stanislaus Connect app to ask for street and pothole repairs. Turlock residents can report a pothole on the city website.
