MEMPHIS, Tenn. — State routes and highways are starting to get bumpy again despite the work Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) recently put in to fill potholes.
Unfortunately, the weather and wear and tear from vehicles breaks down the pavement causing potholes to pop up again.
There’s been more than a 170% increase of potholes reported in TDOT’s Region 4, encompassing Shelby County, in the first three months of 2023 than in the first three months of 2022.
From Jan 1, 2023 to March 3, 2023 there were 443 requests for potholes to be filled in the area. In the same time period of 2022, there were 163.
TDOT Regional Director of Operations, Michael Welch, said they’re doing the best they can but rain seeping into the cracked roads makes it almost like a "game of catch up" because there’s no way to predict when a pothole will surface.
“Sometimes, it’s just because that top layer of mix of asphalt,” Welch said. “Pavement is degraded, and it just comes apart deep from the previous layer. Sometimes its deeper in the ground. It may be down as far as the gravel or soil down way underneath the pavement layers, and there’s failure there. If there’s failure down deep, we have to dig down deep and make that repair.”
Welch said TDOT is already prepping for any severe weather by clearing drains and debris off the roads.
This is especially concerning since Shelby County ranks second of all counties across the state with the highest number of pothole requests.
“We may not know there’s gonna be a pothole on I-40 next week,” Welch said. “So it’s something hard to plan for ... a lot of times it puts us in kind of a reactive type mode.”
Regardless, he said they’ll begin patching potholes again once the severe weather has passed and they have more time to work on replacing the pavement.
“As far as potholes, if we do have some that are pretty significant, we’ll continuously work on those and it’s not really a waiting game,” Welch said.
If you see a pothole on a state route or highway, like Stage Road or I-64 – the best thing you can do is report it right away by dialing 833 TDOTFIX (836-8349). If you see a pothole on a city road, like Sam Cooper or Highland Street, call the city at 3-1-1.