Potholes, those familiar winter annoyances, are back.
To anyone who has swerved down a pockmarked street in recent weeks, it should come as no surprise that road crews have been responding to hundreds of complaints of potholes across the city and county.
Several jurisdictions report they’re seeing more roads damaged by potholes so far this year than during last year’s relatively mild early winter months.
Since Dec. 1, the city of Vancouver alone has filled 729 potholes and spent about $22,000 on repairs, Vancouver Public Works spokeswoman Loretta Callahan said. In the same time period last winter, the city filled 451 potholes at a cost of about $15,000.
Also since Dec. 1, Clark County has spent $33,366 repairing potholes, county Public Works spokesman Jeff Mize said. In the same time period last winter, it had spent $23,587. Unlike Vancouver, Clark County doesn’t track how many potholes it has filled, Mize said.
“We have had a lot of rain this winter, which can contribute to pothole formation, but freezing and thawing conditions tend to be a bigger factor,” Mize said.
Denis Ryan, a Camas Public Works supervisor, agreed that this year’s potholes seem to be posing a much greater challenge. Camas has received more than 20 reports of potholes in the last week, he said.
“Roads are blowing up,” he said.
Ryan explained that potholes form when groundwater freezes and expands, putting stress on roadways and causing them to crack.
And there’s certainly been plenty of water to cause problems. Vancouver has received about 20.85 inches of rain since Dec. 1, according to the National Weather Service, exceeding last year’s total rainfall for the same period by more than a foot.
“We just have a tremendously high water table,” Ryan said.
Ryan, along with Callahan and Mize, urged that if you see a pothole, report it.
“We’ll still keep plugging them as we get calls,” Ryan said. “I can’t stress enough: Call and let us know so we can address them.”
