ST. LOUIS – With the start of warmer weather, potholes that formed in the winter are becoming bigger and deeper. The city and MoDOT plan to keep up with demand across the St. Louis region.
Recent roller coaster weather has allowed potholes to expand.
“In springtime, they pop up more often, much like daffodils,” said Tom Blair, district engineer for MoDOT.
To keep up with demand, the Missouri Department of Transportation planned to increase crews. They said a milder winter has freed up some money in the budget to use on projects such as fixing potholes.
“You’ll also see a lot of our crews out there do road sweeping, shoulder sweeping,” Blair said. “Sort of like that spring cleanup, like we all want to do on our yard, that’s what MoDOT has to do in the spring; we prioritize all that spring cleanup stuff, which includes filling potholes.”
In 2022, St. Louis officials said they had filled more than 6,000 potholes. Currently, the city has about 400 open requests.
The top priority right now is fixing potholes on highly trafficked streets like Kingshighway, Jefferson, Union, and more. After that, they will work down to residential roads.
In addition, $17 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds will be used for repaving to help prevent potholes in the long term, starting in 2024.
“You have to be careful going down Manchester, I know where the potholes are, so I can switch lanes if I need to,” said Kim Linhares, a St. Louis County resident.
“Constantly dodging potholes just left and right, cars rattling, things fall out of the visor, it’s been like that for years,” said Matthew Walker, a St. Louis County resident.
If you have a pothole to report on state-controlled roads or highways, you can contact MoDOT at 1-888-ASK-MODOT (275-6636) or by clicking here.
To report to the city, contact their citizen service bureau via phone at (314) 622-4800 or online.
Officials ask you to slow down and pull over when crews are working on the roads.