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Broadway Street traffic in Chicopee is slowed in both directions recently as drivers try to avoid the potholes that flank both sides of the street.Nine percent.
Potholes owe their life to that seemingly harmless number. It is the approximate amount water expands in volume each time it freezes, turning roadway cracks into tire-swallowing crevices.
“Potholes are a rite of spring,” says William D. Fuqua, public works superintendent for the city of Holyoke.
The recent string of cold nights and warm days started the freeze-and-thaw cycle that inevitably leads to potholes, and, yes, they are already appearing across Western Massachusetts, Fuqua says.
“Unfortunately, they are coming at a time when we’re trying our hardest to catch up with all the snow,” he said. “But, we’re going to get to them when we can.”
In Springfield, where as many as 10,000 cracks and potholes are filled in a year, “the pothole season has started,” said public works director Allan R. Chwalek.
Springfield’s public works crews were among many across the region who began last week filling holes with cold patch, which is considered a temporary repair until permanent steps can be taken when the weather gets consistently warmer, he said.
Before municipalities can fill potholes, they have to know where they are, and the key to that is reports from residents about their locations.
In most cities and towns, those reports can be telephoned into the public works department. In Springfield, residents should call “311,” the city’s non-emergency call center program.
With the record snowfall in January, most communities have exhausted their snow-removal budgets for the season, but fortunately, most do not combine their pothole and snow removal funds.
“They are not mixed budgets,” said Chicopee public works superintendent Stanley W. Kulig.
“We’ll have enough money to handle whatever pothole issues come up,” said Fuqua.
Kulig says the heavy snows could affect pothole production if not cleared by man or weather.
“It could potentially if we can’t get catch basins opened up to remove the water running off (as the snow melts),” Kulig explained. “Snow and ice could block them and the water would stay in the street,” entering cracks and transforming them into potholes, he said.
When it comes to potholes, an ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure, according to Fuqua.
“If you have a good maintenance program, then the pavement is in good condition and that minimizes the potholes,” he said. “We’ve had an aggressive crack-filling program (often done in summer) in the last 10 years, and the number of our potholes has gone down year after year.”