Oklahoma Drivers Dodging Potholes After Winter Thaw

Repairing Tulsa's potholes will take some time. Last week's icy rain and cold weather created thousands of potholes that appeared over the weekend. News on 6 reporter Emory Bryan says the pothole

Monday, January 22nd 2007, 9:47 am

By: News On 6

Repairing Tulsa's potholes will take some time. Last week's icy rain and cold weather created thousands of potholes that appeared over the weekend. News on 6 reporter Emory Bryan says the pothole forecast was dead on, because rain followed by a hard freeze is the perfect recipe for creating a pothole.

Brandon Lewis is part of a three-man crew with one job done, and a bigger job ahead.

â€œWe got through plowing yesterday and switched right over to potholing,â€ said pothole repairman Brandon Lewis.

Their job is to drive the streets and repair every pothole they find. It's a job they knew was coming last week when they were plowing snow.

â€œJust the thawing freezing, just like the water main breaks it get under it does the same thing to asphalt, it gets in the cracks and it freezes,â€ pothole repairman Jerry Yocum said.

It only takes a few minutes and a few dollars to repair a pothole, but the problem is that across the city there are thousands of them.

â€œI try to steer around potholes,â€ driver John Graham said.

â€œI try to weave around them too, I try to weave around and go on the streets where I know it ain't too bad,â€ said motorist Kiawna Deville.

But there aren't many streets where there aren't many potholes.

An average pothole repair takes about 15 minutes, but that's enough to keep the city working extra shifts for a couple of weeks.

"Basically we have every man available doing it," said Floyd Emery with Tulsa Public Works.

To report a pothole in Tulsa, you can do so online at www.cityoftulsa.org.