Extreme winter may cause big pothole problems this spring

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SALT LAKE CITY — An extreme winter in Utah could mean a lot of pothole problems for drivers this spring.

Maintenance crews with the Utah Department of Transportation haven’t even put away the snow plows yet, but they’re out patching up potholes. They blame the high number of storms and precipitation we’ve had this winter season.

“There’s a good likelihood that we’re going to see a number of potholes this spring,” said John Gleason, UDOT spokesperson. “It’s the freeze thaw cycle where temperatures will cool down and warm up again, sometimes within a period of days.”

Crews are laying down a temporary fix for now because of cold temperatures but in the summer they’ll be back with a more permanent solution. They say they realize potholes are a hazard that they can’t wait on.

“If you don’t address them right away you can have safety concerns with people hitting them, causing damage to their cars, people swerving out of the way, which can be a safety concern in and of itself and at the very worst can cause crashes,” Gleason said.

UDOT said maintenance crews look for problems in their areas but they also want drivers to be their eyes on the road and report potholes back to them.

Drivers can report potholes on UDOT’s Click and Fix app. UDOT said that once they get a report of a pothole, they’ll inspect it within 24 hours and try to repair it as soon as they can.