Andy Breedlove, who works for the city of Lawrence, fills a pothole on 33rd Street. Wednesday's warmer temperatures allowed street crews to work on roads that have been pitted by weather extremes, salt and sand.

Watch out for that – (clunk) – pothole.

The last few weeks of cold and wet weather and the sand and salt mixture used to clear snow and ice have not been friendly on the asphalt, said city Public Works Director Chuck Soules.

They have caused holes several feet wide and inches deep on the streets. Wednesday’s warmer temperatures allowed city street crews to get started on a lengthy list of trouble spots.

“Good,” said Susan Micka, a Lawrence High School reading specialist. “Yesterday, in fact, driving down Massachusetts Street, I hit one that was covered with water, and I thought I was going to bottom-out my Jeep.”

City workers John Barnes and Andy Breedlove spent Wednesday filling in holes on side streets in Lawrence while a larger crew worked on the more heavily traveled Iowa, 23rd and Sixth streets.

What kind of reception do they get from drivers while they park their truck full of cold-mix asphalt in the street and start filling holes?

“Sometimes we get some good hand signals. Usually it’s not this,” Barnes said with his thumb up.

The process

Barnes and Breedlove started their day Wednesday with a list to fix more than 20 locations in the city. A majority of the reports came from the pothole reporting hot line, 832-3456, that the Street Maintenance Division operates in addition to a form available on the city’s Web site.

Soules said a batch of potholes typically crop up after storms bring heavy precipitation. Other than routine maintenance in a few spots, the last time it was this widespread was in the fall.

“We’re out here trying to catch all this up now. This list will be bigger tomorrow,” Barnes said.

Barnes and Breedlove on Wednesday morning filled 34 holes in one place near 19th and Louisiana streets and at one point worked along 33rd Street near Kohl’s Department Store.

Barnes did his best to sweep out water and other debris, and then Breedlove dumped a shovel full of a black asphalt substance into an empty spot.

Barnes stomped over the mixture until Breedlove cranked up the plate compactor and ran it over the surface.

“This is mostly a temporary fix. It keeps them from causing damage on cars,” Barnes said.

A pothole at Crestline and Century drives

Winter temperatures don’t allow the department access to a supply of hot-mix patching asphalt until late March, Soules said.

The colder mixture of patching asphalt works immediately but is not a long-term solution.

“It’s frustrating that in four months we’re going to be right there fixing that same hole,” Soules said. “It’s hard to convince the community that we don’t have much choice sometimes on some of the materials because of the climate.”

Long term

Infrastructure and maintenance have been an issue at City Hall for the last three years.

“It doesn’t seem like (streets) have been any worse than they usually are, but it seems like they are as bad as they always have been,” said Luke Oehlert, owner of River City Heating and Cooling, which runs five trucks in the city.

A pothole at 16th Street and Barker Avenue

For the 2007 budget, commissioners increased the street maintenance program funding – which includes city street department repair and maintenance contracted out – to $5.3 million from $4 million.

Soules said the department has sealed more cracks on streets recently to help mitigate road damage, especially during the winter.

“That’s been helping with the amount of pot-holing that we’ve had,” he said.