April 09--Traffic congestion, jaywalkers and construction zones are still a nuisance, but Chicago drivers may face one less driving hazard this year as reports show the number of pothole complaints has dropped.
According to the Chicago Department of Transportation, the city received about a third fewer pothole complaints in the first quarter of 2015 than the same period last year, thanks to a milder winter and increased repaving efforts.
In the first 13 weeks of the year, the Transportation Department received more than 19,600 new reports of potholes in city streets -- down from about 30,000 reports filed in the same period in 2014. While the reduction is substantial, this year remains higher than three of the past five years.
The data confirm what longtime Chicago taxi driver Wayne Crumpton had already observed.
"It's not half as bad as last year," he said. "I don't know if it's the kind of salt they used or the blades (on snowplows), but this year has been good for the streets."
Experts say Mother Nature is mainly to thank for sparing Chicago roadways and motorists' tires this year.
Potholes are caused when moisture seeps into pavement and expands when it freezes, then contracts when it thaws. The flexing of the pavement combined with the stress of traffic causes the potholes, according to Kevin Burke, executive director of the Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association. The more moisture and frequent the freeze-and-thaw cycle, the more potholes are likely to be created.
"This year, the winter was a little milder as far as moisture and temperature extremes," Burke said.
Existing potholes can be made worse when hit by snowplows clearing roadways, he said.
During the 2013-14 winter, the National Weather Service recorded 80 inches of snow at O'Hare International Airport and some extreme temperature swings, including a high of 56 and low of minus 6 in December 2013; a high of 45, low of minus 16 in January 2014; and a high of 49, low of minus 8 in February 2014.
Due in part to the third-snowiest winter on record in 2013-14, Transportation Department workers in 2014 filled a record 920,000 potholes in streets and alleys and repaved with help from the Department of Water Management, private contractors and utilities.
"Last year was really bad, like going through a minefield," Crumpton said. "And everyone who gets in my cab says they see the difference this year."
Fellow cabbie Alex Marginean knows the kind of havoc potholes can wreak, including a jolting experience several years ago while driving in the center lane of Lake Shore Drive in Irving Park.
"It blew the tire and damaged the rim -- the whole thing," he said.
The Romanian native said that if 11 years of operating a cab in Chicago has helped him realize anything, it's that he misses the roads in Europe.
"It's like off-road driving here," he said.
Anthony Soto, a technician at his uncle's shop Soto Tire Repair in Logan Square, hears those stories on a daily basis. The shop, which was open on Easter Sunday, had already helped three customers that day who blamed their flat tires on potholes.
"As years go by, we have the same variety of customers and clients, but the number one cause is always a ripped tire from a pothole in the street or damaged on the sidewalk," Soto said.
In the first quarter of 2014, the city received 1,874 claims from drivers seeking to be reimbursed for damages to their vehicles caused by potholes. Through March 18, there have been 276 claims. The city clerk's office received 5,400 total claims in 2014 -- more than double the total number of claims filed from 2010 through 2013, according to data obtained by the Tribune. Claims are reviewed by the City Council and generally are decided after 18 months.
The city has also tried to reduce the number of potholes by boosting paving efforts. Since 2011, city departments and private utilities have repaved more than 1,000 miles -- nearly a quarter of Chicago's streets.
"If there's a big overhaul in repaving, you're effectively sealing the distress out of the road, so you're not going to have as much effect from the freeze-thaw cycle," Burke said.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel added $10 million to the Transportation Department's 2015 budget for pothole and pavement maintenance so additional crews would be available through the winter full time, the department said.
As of March 31, the department had filled 246,800 potholes this year and had about 800 outstanding pothole complaints, many concentrated on the city's Northwest and Far South sides, according to department data. The average time between a submitted complaint and repair is about 31/2 days.
Heading into April 2014, transportation crews had filled about 345,500 potholes with a backlog of almost 9,600. By June, as potholes continued to form faster than crews could fill them, the average time between a complaint being filed and workers fixing the pothole swelled to 69 days.
Artist Jim Bachor began filling potholes with concrete and mosaic pictures as a hobby in 2013, his way of replacing something "everyone hates" with images that are "universally liked," including flowers or renditions of the city flag with the word "pothole" in the center.
"There was a pothole in front of my house and it wouldn't stay fixed," said Bachor, of Chicago's Mayfair neighborhood. "They'd fill it with asphalt and within a matter of a month or two, it'd pop out. I've worked in mosaic art for 13, 14, 15 years, and part of why I love it is because of the durability. You see these mosaics that are 2,000 years old that still look the same ... and I thought maybe this is a good fix."
Bachor, who asked for $300 in an online fundraiser in January, raised $4,600 to build new mosaic pothole pieces, which cost about $75 to $100 each. Though crowdfunding wasn't an issue, Bachor, now, has another predicament.
"The funny thing is, this year, there doesn't seem to be as many," he said. "There are 15, kind of, criteria that have to be right for it to work. It can't be in the center of the street blocking traffic, it can't be too narrow, it can't be too deep -- potholes are kind of like Goldilocks."
Bachor designed his first mosaic of the year April 1 on Grand Avenue and Bishop Street in West Town. The installation will be one of eight ice cream-themed pieces that will be featured across the city, he said. Whatever the flavor, it should beat a rocky road.
tbriscoe@tribpub.com
