PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Pothole season has begun, and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and Camden County, New Jersey are asking drivers who encounter potholes on one of their highways, interstates, or secondary roads to report it.
Potholes are formed when ice melts, and water finds its way into cracks of a road. When water freezes and thaws over and over, the pavement can weaken and continue cracking.
PennDOT call this the rapid freeze and thaw cycle.
“We want to hear about the potholes, so we can address them,” said PennDOT Spokesperson Robyn Briggs.
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She said one way you can report potholes in Pennsylvania is by going to PennDOT's website and clicking here.
“You would put in exactly where you saw a pothole and give us as much description as possible, so then our county managers receive all of these lists, and they rely heavily on that to address what people out there are seeing,” Briggs added.
Drivers in Pennsylvania can also call 1-800-FIX-ROAD to report a pothole.
Camden County, New Jersey drivers can call 1-856-566-2980 to report a pothole to a live operator 24/7. The county is only responsible for some roads, but County Commissioner Al Dyer said they talk with towns and local public works departments to ensure all the repairs are placed on a crew's agenda.
“We’re receiving a lot of calls," said Dyer. "There’s a lot of potholes throughout Camden County. We just ask people to be patient and we will start filling these potholes.”
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In 2021, PennDOT received more than 6,000 pothole reports.
"(Crews) try to prioritize our bigger highways first, our interstates, the more traveled roadways, and then they go to our secondary roads," said Briggs.
“They take the type (of pothole) into consideration and they take where it is into consideration...we just ask for the public to be patient. If it’s on our crews’ list, they will get to it."
Municipalities are asking drivers to slow down when they see crews repairing roadways, particularly when they’re manually patching the road.
“Just remember to slow down to make sure everyone, including our motorists, stay safe," said Briggs.
Report a pothole to PennDOT here.
