Potholes Impacting Drivers As Tulsa Crews Work To Repair Them

Wednesday, part of Harvard near I-44 was blocked off to drivers while crews made repairs to potholes.

Tulsa city officials said some of the potholes around town formed during the winter blast. 

Even if you don't realize it's happening, potholes can cause a lot of damage to your car and tires. 

“So, the air gets trapped in between the lining of the tire and causes a small bubble on the tire. We’ve been seeing that a lot lately with impact separation, but also a lot of people coming in with alignment issues," said Cory Pendergrass.

Pendergrass is a manager with Robertson Tire and said they saw a large increase in customers right after the winter storm. 

“A lot of front end suspension component problems with people sliding into curbs and then also the excessive potholes caused a lot of damage to lower control arms and bent struts," said Pendergrass.

He said they're continuing to see issues as crews actively work on pothole repairs along Memorial near the Creek Turnpike and along 71st Street near the Woodland Hills Mall.

“We’re trying to keep the work zone to a much smaller area to minimize the impact to the traffic," said Ryan McKaskle.

McKaskle is Tulsa's Field Engineering Manager and said after the winter storm crews filled the potholes along 71st Street, but they kept returning. So, now they are having to replace entire lanes to help the repairs last. 

“We do have maintenance crews that come out here and maintain and they have the ability to fill the potholes, do some crack sealing in the interim, but right now what we have is a full capital program coming in to do the repairs," said McKaskle.

Since potholes and construction are unavoidable, Pendergrass recommends getting the air pressure in your tires checked every 30 days. 

"We’re measuring tread depth, we’re also looking for impact separation due to potholes or any type of uneven wear that might indicate that you have an alignment issue," said Pendergrass.