Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (CBS) ― If you had to drive Friday, you were in for a rough ride on the roads in the Chicago area. The pothole problems have crews working overtime. But for drivers dodging those craters that can swallow tires is next to impossible.

As CBS 2's Mike Parker reports, Illinois Department of Transportation crews have closed all but one lane of traffic on the inbound Edens Expressway at Cicero because of a pothole-style pavement rupture. It's a 15 by 12 inch hole in the bridge deck where the expressway crosses over the Chicago River.

"We hope to have it completely patched and reopened by Saturday at some point," said IDOT spokesperson Mike Claffey. "There's bad weather coming on Saturday."

IDOT recommends avoiding the area for the next 24 hours.

There are streets all over the area that are riddled with potholes. So many of them are popping up so fast, that city and state patching crews can't keep up with them.

"I've been with the department for 33 years," said IDOT supervisor Mike Spina. "I've seen the blizzard of '78 and all that stuff. I've never seen potholes like this year. We're being shocked."

On a normal day, IDOT lays down three to four tons of cold patch material. They used 20 tons on Friday.

"We're tired of them," said motorist Kent Keeper. "I'm getting tired of getting bent rims, and everything."

"It's just horrible – potholes everywhere, getting flats," added driver Jessie Ayala. "I got a flat yesterday already."

A broken hubcap on the side of the road is a sign of the kind of damage cars and trucks constantly sustain in that area.

"It's the same thing. They need to put concrete in here. It's a bunch of trucks," said driver Alex Ayala. "They need to put concrete. Tar won't do anything. They're just wasting our money and taxpayers' money."

Chris Garnett sells newspapers at the junction of Cicero Avenue and the Stevenson, and he says he has seen it all.

"As you can see, these are craters out here now," Garnett said. "They're causing a lot of damage."

As CBS 2's Rafael Romo reports, city officials say more than 5,000 reports of potholes were pending on Thursday alone.

Some potholes are easily visible, but others have appeared in very treacherous locations. Thousands of motorists exit Lake Shore Drive at the LaSalle Drive/North Avenue exit every day, and motorists turning right from LaSalle Drive onto Stockton Drive would have encountered two dangerous potholes, until they were fixed by the Chicago Department of Transportation Friday morning.

But CDOT crews still have lots of work cut out for them, and many drivers are getting impatient.

The pavement crisis, and one of its potholes, claimed student Randy Weyhe's driver's side tire on Lake Shore Drive Friday morning.

"I tried to swerve but there was too much traffic to avoid it so I had to hit it," Weyhe said. "Immediately the tire went flat."
With more than 40 inches of snow since December and a constant freeze and thaw, it should not be a surprise that so many potholes are cropping up. But city officials are not pleased.

"This is the year of the potholes," Mayor Richard M. Daley said. "Remember, it's going to snow tonight. Then it's going to freeze. Then you're going to have the salt, and then all of a sudden you've got the weather."

Mayor Daley is upset about insufficient funding from the State of Illinois to fix the problem.

"We've been asking the state. They have to rebuild North Lake Shore Drive," Mayor Daley said. "That has been on the road. We're trying to get the state to agree to that, yes."

The Department of Transportation says anywhere from 3,500 to 4,000 potholes are filled a day, and it is still not enough.

"Obviously, it's terrible. We understand it's terrible," said Chicago Department of Transportation Commissioner Thomas Byrne. "That's the freeze and thaw that's going on here. We can't get a real decent dry day to even try to attack it."

Some stretches of road have been in need of repairs for years, and conditions this winter have only made it worse.
The Department of Transportation fills 200,000 to 250,000 potholes in an average year, but this year, that figure stands to be far higher.

CBS 2's Rafael Romo, Mike Flannery and Mike Parker contributed to this report.

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