WILD CHICAGO DECEMBER WEATHER MEANS MORE DANGEROUS POTHOLES FOR MOTORISTS!
POTHOLE COMPLAINTS NORMAL FOR DECEMBER - BUT WE'RE ONLY AT THE START OF THE SEASON! - CHICAGO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Potholes - those axle-breaking, alignment-wrecking, hubcap-losing, nerve-jarring holes in area thoroughfares - have gotten a head start this Chicago Winter Season. Even though winter is officially only a week old, cold weather and snow, intermittently followed by periods of warm up, have pock-marked many road surfaces in the city, and made them not only irritating, but potentially dangerous as well.
Near our office in the Lincoln Square Neighborhood on the North Side of Chicago, numerous craters have appeared on Western Avenue between Belmont and Foster, on four-lane Irving Park Road between the Kennedy Expressway and the Lake, and on Lincoln Avenue, all the way up to suburban Lincolnwood to the north of the city.
Serious damage is often a result when drivers can't avoid potholes. Side-swipe accidents - or worse - sometimes result when drivers quickly swerve to avoid them.
Last week, temperatures here started out near zero. They rose to just above the freezing point mid-week, turned into the teens over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and skyrocketed into the seasonally-tropical 50's today. Rain has melted much of our snow cover locally, causing flooding in some areas. But the likelihood of more frigid weather during the coming week will likely crumble the roads once again.
Chicago Department of Transportation workers are getting about 300 calls each day now over pothole complaints. They use a cold-asphalt patch as a temporary fill measure, with a more durable hot patch going in when the weather warms next spring. If calls escalate in January, February, and March, it could over-tax repair crews, and create longer lead times for repair. For now, however, according to Brian Steele, a spokesman for the Department, crews are keeping up with repair work.
Steele credits a recently-resurfaced Lake Shore Drive for reducing the number of complaints on this storied, but very-heavily-commuted-upon road. However, LSD represents only a tiny proportion of the 3,800 miles of arterial and residential streets across Chicago - not even considering the extensive Chicago Expressway System, mostly tended to by State of IL Repair Crews.
Find a dangerous pothole in Chicago? Call "311" in the city to report it and get it filled.
Slow response? Let us know via this blog. We'll get word to the Department of Transportation, so they can get them repaired. Hopefully - quickly!
Be careful and watchful when you drive!
See Steve Schmadeke's article in the Chicago Tribune, from Christmas Day, for more.
DEAN MOSS & DEAN'S TEAM CHICAGO
