Minneapolis pothole repair teams to work overtime, city investing extra $1M

The city said it's putting around $1 million towards the efforts.

Minneapolis officials on Tuesday addressed the growing issue of potholes around the city, announcing public works employees will step up efforts to temporarily fill them until permanent repairs can be undertaken.

Mayor Jacob Frey said city employees will have increased crews and overtime hours with "substantial allocation" to apply a temporary patch — a cold patch —to them. The workers will also be out and about on weekends.

The city confirmed to Bring Me The News on Thursday crews are seeing an uptick of potholes this winter season due to the snow-freeze-thaw pattern of weather.

Frey says the cycle needs to finish in order for more permanent measures to be taken.

"That's not gonna happen for another couple of weeks. We can't move entirely down the permanent route until we know the freeze-thaw cycle is complete," Frey said, asking residents to be patient and report any potholes by calling 311.

Frey was joined by Minneapolis Public Works Director Margaret Anderson Kelliher and Director of Transportation Maintenance and Repair Joe Paumen at the press conference. Kelliher said the cold season patchwork is a repeated process until the more permanent hot patch option can be used, when an estimated 200 potholes will be filled a day.

Anderson Kelliher said city is using around $1 million to pay for the temporary patches over the coming weeks.

"But like the mayor said, we need your help. We don't magically know where the potholes are," Anderson Kelliher said, asking for people to provide specifics such as where it is, how deep it is and how long it is.

The public works director also said there's an order of importance in which potholes are addressed.

"If the pothole is more of a dangerous pothole that it could cause damage, that goes to the top of the list," she said.

Kelliher added that residents unclogging drains when streets begin to flood is key to reducing the amount of potholes as well.

Paumen said normally the city starts to refill potholes around February and March, but this year workers began to fill them in January.

To report potholes in Minneapolis, dial 311 or 612-673-3000 or you can email 311 here .

You can watch the presser held Tuesday morning via the city's YouTube page below.