INDIANAPOLIS – It’s October and winter is right around the corner, but there are more than 1,500 potholes right now on the interstates around Indianapolis. So what gives?
After one of the worst pothole seasons on record for the City of Indianapolis and along the interstates around Indy, no one wants to relive last year’s disastrous commute of trying to avoid the craters around the city.
MORE |It's September, why are so many potholes still unfilled?
But why in October are there so still many potholes on the area’s interstates?
The answer is different for almost each pothole, INDOT says.
“We're really attacking aggressively some of those areas that we've seen reoccurrences of potholes," Scott Manning of INDOT said.
When they get a report for a large pothole that could cause a danger to traffic, INDOT will dispatch road crews immediately to get them filled, Manning said.
But for smaller potholes or ones that aren’t determined to be an immediate danger, INDOT says they look at the underlying issue of what is causing the potholes to appear and do preventive maintenance, like strip patching or bigger road resurfacing projects.
They tend to focus those repairs during bigger projects, like the bridge project that shut down I-65 downtown earlier this year, so the closures of I-465 in the last couple of weeks.
MORE | Westbound I-465 lanes on Indy's southwest side closed through October 8
Many of the repairs also happen over the weekend and overnight when crews can close down multiple lanes, Manning said.
"That's a lot of work that's happening in the overnights and on the weekends so when you encounter lane closures as you're out and about,” Manning said. “It's generally for that work to do some asphalt concrete pavement repairs to the address some of the problems that are out there now and do the preventative maintenance that's needed."
Manning said one of the other issues is that people don’t report the potholes to the state, so they can be aware of them and work to get them fixed.
Many people try to report them to the City of Indianapolis and they don't repair potholes on the interstates, exit ramps or entrance ramps, Indy’s DPW said.
If you spot a pothole on interstate, head over to INDOT’s contact website INDOT4U and report the pothole. You can also call 855-INDOT4U (463-6848).
When you report the pothole, make sure you have as much information as possible about where the pothole is located. They say providing the following information helps get crews sent to the right location.
- The name of the county.
- The state road number.
- The mile marker or nearest crossroad.
- The direction of travel and which lane the pothole is located.
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