Permanent Fix for Potholes Not Always Possible
By: Kelly Dudzik, KARK 4 News
Updated: February 22, 2013
The rain caused new potholes to pop up all over the place frustrating drivers everywhere.
But, did you know there is a way to put the pothole causing you the most problems on a priority fix list?
Houston Stackhouse just wanted to drive home from work Thursday, but he had some problems.
"It's very annoying because in the rain, I'm having to put air in a tire that I have because of the potholes," says Stackhouse.
Stackhouse ran over a pothole he couldn't avoid on Chenal Parkway, a place where potholes keep returning.
"Bad thing is they're patching over the potholes, and then every time it rains, it comes right back out and it makes an even bigger pothole, and it's just really dangerous. City needs to do something about this for real," he says.
"We've been hit with a 1, 2, 3 punch between the snow storm, the debris cleanup, the threat of ice last night," says Mark Jacobi with Little Rock Public Works.
It is Jacobi's responsibility to do something about the problem, and he says you can get one of his city crews out faster by calling 311.
"In that call, you can state whether or not it's an emergency or a growing pothole or irritation or whatever it happens to be. We can link some priority to them and, of course, those that are emergencies, we can link some priority to them," says Jacobi.
Stackhouse hopes the potholes on Chenal get fixed permanently, but for now, he would just settle on finding an air machine that works.
"I had to stop real quick. I even got change in my pocket so I could get air in my tire," he says.
Now that Little Rock has hired a contractor to finish picking up the Christmas storm debris, public works can focus on potholes.
The same potholes sometimes come back because sometimes the city can only use the cold asphalt mix, and that doesn't work as well as using the hot mix then resurfacing. Resurfacing also costs a lot of money, and while the sales tax revenue helps, It is not enough to fix everything.
"Our asphalt producers are not running their plants, so we use a cold mix asphalt, and it's not a permanent as the hot mix and we'll have to turn around and do some of those repairs again," says Jacobi.
The lack of hot mix means the best fix of a combination of a hot and cold mix asphalt plus a resurfacing can not happen.
Plus, there's the money issue. The new sales tax revenue helps, but Little Rock has a lot of roads that need help. Add the bad weather to the mix, and the city just can't really catch up.
But, did you know there is a way to put the pothole causing you the most problems on a priority fix list?
Houston Stackhouse just wanted to drive home from work Thursday, but he had some problems.
"It's very annoying because in the rain, I'm having to put air in a tire that I have because of the potholes," says Stackhouse.
Stackhouse ran over a pothole he couldn't avoid on Chenal Parkway, a place where potholes keep returning.
"Bad thing is they're patching over the potholes, and then every time it rains, it comes right back out and it makes an even bigger pothole, and it's just really dangerous. City needs to do something about this for real," he says.
"We've been hit with a 1, 2, 3 punch between the snow storm, the debris cleanup, the threat of ice last night," says Mark Jacobi with Little Rock Public Works.
It is Jacobi's responsibility to do something about the problem, and he says you can get one of his city crews out faster by calling 311.
"In that call, you can state whether or not it's an emergency or a growing pothole or irritation or whatever it happens to be. We can link some priority to them and, of course, those that are emergencies, we can link some priority to them," says Jacobi.
Stackhouse hopes the potholes on Chenal get fixed permanently, but for now, he would just settle on finding an air machine that works.
"I had to stop real quick. I even got change in my pocket so I could get air in my tire," he says.
Now that Little Rock has hired a contractor to finish picking up the Christmas storm debris, public works can focus on potholes.
The same potholes sometimes come back because sometimes the city can only use the cold asphalt mix, and that doesn't work as well as using the hot mix then resurfacing. Resurfacing also costs a lot of money, and while the sales tax revenue helps, It is not enough to fix everything.
"Our asphalt producers are not running their plants, so we use a cold mix asphalt, and it's not a permanent as the hot mix and we'll have to turn around and do some of those repairs again," says Jacobi.
The lack of hot mix means the best fix of a combination of a hot and cold mix asphalt plus a resurfacing can not happen.
Plus, there's the money issue. The new sales tax revenue helps, but Little Rock has a lot of roads that need help. Add the bad weather to the mix, and the city just can't really catch up.
