It’s that time of year when pesky potholes starting showing up across Milwaukee.
Crews with the City of Milwaukee Department of Public Works have been busy filling up the cracks and craters with cold asphalt.
“We are throwing in our cold patch material, this is what we have available. We are just addressing any request that we get,” said James Washington, the Street Service Manager for the Milwaukee Department of Public Works.
Washington said from the start of the year until mid-March, the city has received more than 1,500 requests to fill potholes and 700 of those requests all came within March.
“Typically in March and April every year is when we get most of our request coming out of that winter, coming out of that freezing-thaw cycle,” said Washington.
Washington said as more people are putting in pothole requests, currently, the City has a three-day response time.
Pothole season is also a busy time of year for tire shops. David Plotz with Bridgestone says recently about 10 to 20 customers come in daily with pothole-related issues.
“Anywhere between a damaged tire, maybe a wheel that went out of balance, something as simple as a wheel alignment. Then you can get into more severe conditions, those are bent rims, damaged components to the suspension,” said Plotz.
Plotz said, as more people are driving, there are things you can do to protect your tire.
“Make sure your tire is aired up to the proper pressure, that's for most vehicles between 30-35 psi. Second is safe driving, slow speeds, keeping good distance between you and the vehicle in front of you,” said Plotz.
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