St. Paul officials start patching potholes as city sees higher number than average
It's a familiar routine across Minnesota: when the snow melts, the roads thaw, and then potholes pop up. The city of St. Paul said they are seeing a higher number of potholes than average this year.
Lisa Hiebert, with the public works department, explained that the repeated freeze and thaw cycles we experienced over the winter months cause more damage to the roads.
Hiebert said the city's asphalt plant opened for the year and crews started using hot mix to patch the streets on Wednesday. It's a more permanent fix compared to the mixture used over the winter months.
The St. Paul plant provides hot mix to about 100 municipalities. Crews will be able to use that mix until it gets cold in November.
The city is also offering overtime to crews who can work weekends patching up the streets.
"They're not just small potholes, some of them are pretty big," said Oscar Redmond, who often drives in to St. Paul. "Usually the city is pretty good with fixing them. It's just this year, this winter it's just been pretty bad."
"I go around them if i can, but there's so many now that you have to just choose which is the best of the worst to go through," said resident Lauren Hill, who called the number of potholes a "disgrace."
The capital city said they've been working through the winter to patch what they can, addressing the biggest problem areas first.
Learn more about reporting a pothole in Saint Paul on their website.
Minneapolis residents can report potholes through 311.
Minnesotans can also report potholes on state highways or interstates.