Steve Mustakos and Glenn Lyles shoveled “cold patch” into a pit on Humphrey Street, as the city launched a campaign to fill all its potholes by April 1.
The road crew provided a backdrop to a coordinated press event Wednesday morning, where officials announced their new Pothole Pledge.
Despite a budget crisis, the city has vowed to visit all 220 miles of city streets and repair their potholes by that date. Heavy snow and ice, combined with extreme temperature swings this winter, have torn up side streets and main thoroughfares.
“All the streets will be visited by April First,” declared John Prokop, the director of the city’s public works department.
Wednesday’s announcement came just two days after Mayor John DeStefano warned that the city may face 241 layoffs if union concessions don’t come through. The pothole pledge will stand regardless of how the layoffs play out, he said.
“We’re going to keep doing the work of city government,” DeStefano later said. “We’re going to do the potholes.”
The pledge is weather permitting, Prokop warned: Workers can only fill potholes when the weather warms up above 30 degrees, he said. Since December 1, the city has only seen 10 such days. The cold, as well as sheets of ice and snow, has thwarted the departments’ progress, he said.
If the weather does not permit all potholes to be filled by April 1, Prokop said he’d push back street sweeping for a week or so to accommodate the labor. “It makes no sense to push debris into a pothole,” he explained.
With 12 workers on the job, crews can put down 10 to 20 tons of pothole-filler per day, Prokop reckoned. That computes to 75 large potholes, or 300 surface potholes, he said.
East Rock Alderman Roland Lemar, who has been fielding numerous complaints about road conditions in his area, said with trucks and cars pouring off of I‑95, Humphrey Street was “a good place to start.”
He encouraged residents to report their potholes by calling 946‑7700 or by lodging the complaint on the website seeclickfix.com.
While it's a good thing that the city is committed to filling potholes, it does not replace the need for repaving some streets, e.g. Quinnipiac Ave, especially between Grand Ave. & RTE 80.