INDIANAPOLIS -- Recent freezing and thawing have created a bumpy ride for Hoosiers drivers as potholes return to the roadways.

Indianapolis Department of Public Works spokesman Steve Hardiman said this is the season when snow melts and water seeps into the pavement, only to freeze and expand, causing holes to form, 6News' Ericka Flye reported.

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DPW is in the middle of a major maintenance effort to seal cracks in 1,400 lane miles of city streets by spring, aimed at preventing potholes.

But the crews that do that crack sealing and pothole patching are the same crews that do snow plow duty, and the recent blast of winter weather has kept them busy clearing the roads.

Still, city officials said the pothole problem will not be overlooked.

"We're going to come out here and do something. We're not going to allow potholes to accumulate and we don't come out here and address them till the spring," Hardiman said.

For those tired of a bumpy ride, the fixes can't come soon enough.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I just hit one on the way down here to the gas station," said driver Bobby Syczylo. "If I swerved over, I would have hit somebody."

"It bounces everywhere and cargo in the back goes everywhere too," said driver Bill Carter. "I'll believe (the pothole fixing) when I see it."

Hardiman said there is usually a two-day turnaround from when a pothole is reported to when it's filled, but that right now, it's at four days.

Still, he said that's better than a few years ago when the response time was 20 days.