Crews have busy week filling thousands of potholes

It was a busy week for the Indianapolis Department of Public Works. 

A week of dry weather allowed crews to fill 40,000 additional holes for a total of about 65,000 holes filled this season.  The lack of winter weather has helped and an average of 150 workers have been tackling the streets every day.

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett announced last week that overtime hours would be stepped up to keep the work going.

DPW Director Dan Parker said the focus is still on busier streets that are treated with hot asphalt mix. The hot mix makes a stronger, longer lasting repair.

“Once we complete our work on major thoroughfares, we’ll shift over to our residential streets,” Parker said.

Miles of strip patching have also been completed. This method mills and repairs a top layer of asphalt along a stretch of roadway, providing a longer lasting solution.

The city still has more than 7,000 service requests out, most of those in residential areas. 

In the current labor market, hiring has been challenging but DPW has been able to increase workers in recent years.

Parker said safety needs to come first and drivers should slow down when they see patching crews at work.

“Our workers are working out in the middle of the street,” Parker said. “You’d be surprised at how many times there’s near misses.”

The pothole problem became a major issue in Indianapolis in 2018 and 2019.  Particularly bad weather and years of infrastructure disinvestment led to about twice as many requests. Since then the city has invested hundreds of millions in street reconstruction.

Contact WFYI city government and policy reporter Jill Sheridan at jsheridan@wfyi.org. Follow on Twitter: @JillASheridan.