Chattanooga's Department of Public Works has inspected more than 95 percent of all streets and filled in 90 percent of all potholes, according to a report delivered to the City Council.
The city has added a third pothole repair crew and two more pothole inspectors in the upcoming budget, and is adding three utility inspectors to ensure that street cuts by local utilities are properly repaired. The city is also requiring local utilities to implement full-lane road patches to begin eliminating the quilt of spot patches that often lead to bumpy, uneven surfaces.
While potholes will continue to occur through heavy traffic and the freeze/thaw cycle, the urgent work of getting caught up and the addition of road crews will allow future potholes to be filled more quickly, Kelly said.
“Transportation is critical to getting to work, going to school, and engaging with our outdoor assets, which is why we’ve placed a healthy emphasis on addressing our city’s aging infrastructure,” said Mayor Tim Kelly. “After all, if residents can’t trust their local government to take care of potholes, then why would they trust it to address housing, gun violence and job creation?”
Potholes begin to form when rainwater seeps into small cracks caused by heavy traffic. In the Winter, freezing temperatures cause the water to turn into ice, which expands as it cools. That expansion widens cracks and weakens the rock, gravel and sand beneath. Eventually, this cycle of freezing and thawing softens and erodes the underlying roadbed, allowing the surface to break apart and sink into the softened bed below.
Along with filling potholes, Public Works has created work orders for issues that require more than a patch, such as utility trench settlement, base failure, lack of base, and slope failure. And officials are finalizing the paving plan for 2024 and 2025, which should be released in the coming weeks.
The enhanced emphasis on potholes and paving is part of Mayor Tim Kelly’s One Chattanooga strategy. One of the seven major priorities under the plan is improving our local infrastructure, including timely, equitable and responsive repairs to potholes and aging roads.
However, there are some roads the city doesn’t repair, including state roads, private streets, parking lots and alleys. Examples of roads the city does not maintain would include the Eastgate Town Center loop, U.S. 27, and I-24.