City Of Tulsa Using Overtime Hours To Control Potholes

Drivers in Tulsa always are fighting what seems like an endless battle with potholes, but some relief is on the way.

Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett is authorizing overtime pay so crews can get ahead of the holes.

Since November, the city says crews have repaired nearly 85,000 potholes in Tulsa, and there are plenty more to go.

With some crews scheduled to work extra 10-hour shifts, a few more thousand repairs are expected to be added to that.

The pothole problems are closer to being solved.

"I've hit every one of them just about, at least if feels like it,” driver Ken Short said.

Over the next few days, street crew workloads will be extended.

"Since the weather is supposed to be fairly decent this weekend we should be able to address a lot of the issues with hot asphalt which is a more permanent type repair," Tim McCorkell said.

Five crews will be spaced throughout the city Friday, Saturday and Sunday to tackle an average of 1,200 potholes each day.

Since the weather has been cold, the temporary cold lay asphalt hasn't held up, but the hot asphalt should.

“It's best to be able to do a permanent type repairs anytime you can to alleviate the hazards when you're doing temporary repairs it's kinda hard to keep up,” McCorkell said.

The roads are a bit rougher this year. AAA of Oklahoma calls for pothole help are up nearly 40 percent compared to last year.

"The first things that are going to be addressed are the call-ins to our customer care center,” McCorkell said.

The plan from there is to fix the areas with high traffic and the largest potholes.

The overtime road work is costing the city about $9,000. The money used to fund the work is coming from unspent money from vacant positions in the streets and stormwater department.

"I think that's great,” driver Sherry O'Connell said. “I love what the City of Tulsa is doing for improving our streets. It takes time and it's an ongoing process so I'm grateful."

Crews say they'll work hard for you. Their request? Watch out for them.

Workers already had some close calls with drivers not paying attention. In that case, the driver jumped a median to avoid hitting the workers.