Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (CBS/AP) ― Just call it pothole peril.

Chicago streets are strewn with dangerous potholes.

They're damaging cars, and wreaking havoc with nerves. If you think you're running over more potholes than normal this winter, you're right.

The Chicago Department of Transportation says it's seen a 10 percent increase this season.

The city's 3,500 miles of streets show the wear of repeated freezing and thawing during a January that is already the state's sixth wettest in history, said Brian Steele, spokesman for the city's transportation department.

The city fills about 200,000 potholes a year. It patched 40,000 last November and December alone, which was 1,000 more than the same period in 2003, Steele said.

"I guess you could say pothole season has come a bit early this year to the city of Chicago," he said.

Apparently, the problem is state-wide.

It's the same story along the Chicago area's 274-mile tollway system, which has used 88 tons of asphalt patch already this month, up from 64 tons for all of January a year ago, said tollway authority spokeswoman Joelle McGinnis.

Wet weather with repeated freezing has been especially tough on toll roads, built nearly 50 years ago and showing their age, McGinnis said. The authority will launch a $5.3 billion reconstruction program this year that will rebuild 90 percent of the roads by 2010.

More potholes also have sprouted this winter across Illinois' 16,200 miles of highways, particularly around bigger cities where heavy trucks put an extra strain on pavement weakened by the freeze-thaw cycle, said Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Mike Claffey.

If wet weather and temperature fluctuations continue into spring, the state's pothole repair bill will likely top the nearly $8 million average over the last five years, Claffey said.

"If it's a bad winter, it could be worse ... Then again, if the weather turns nice next week, maybe we'll sail through it," Claffey said.

Car repair and tire stores say the unexpected bumps can be costly for motorists, too. Some potholes pack jolts that can damage tires, rims or even suspensions, with repair bills that can range from $200 to nearly $2,000.

"If they see it soon enough and low down, they're OK. But if the hole's pretty deep and they hit it at 30 or 45 (mph), it can get expensive," said Kurt Zimmer, owner of a Bloomington auto repair shop.

Transportation officials say pothole repair crews have spent more time on roads than snowplows so far this winter, applying asphalt patches to smooth out bumps until permanent repairs can be made when warm weather comes.

Problems have generally been worse in the northern half of the state, where temperatures dip below freezing more often and heavier population puts more cars and trucks on the road, authorities say.

In Decatur, potholes are running about 30 percent behind last year thanks to a mild winter that has slowed the use of snowplows, whose blades typically contribute to missing chunks of roadway, said Phil Wilhelm, the city's municipal services manager.

With two months of winter left, officials said it's too early to tell whether pothole problems will siphon money away from other road projects.

Even if repair costs run high, it won't interfere with construction and rebuilding projects in IDOT's $1.5 billion road budget, Claffey said. But he said it could delay other routine maintenance such as replacing culverts and adding more rocks to road shoulders.

Asphalt makers don't expect a windfall because of the extra potholes this winter.

"There are more holes out there, but cities only have so many crews to fix them and so much money to spend. There are potholes that just don't get fixed," said Forrest Kaufman, owner of McLean County Asphalt in Bloomington.

Call 311 to report potholes in your neighborhood.

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