Pothole issues plague Twin Cities streets

With a mix of rising and falling temperatures hitting Minnesota, a pothole problem is taking over streets throughout the Twin Cities metro area. 

No matter how hard drivers try to dodge them and crews try to fix them, the potholes keep coming back.

“The potholes are the worst I’ve seen in 25 years,” said Jerry Sullivan, a private snow remover.

At the intersection of Grand Avenue and Lincoln Avenue in St. Paul, Fox 9 captured car after car, falling victim to steep, wet, potholes.

“Cars are hitting these things and I’m sure leveling out, bottoming out, ruining front ends,” said Sullivan.

Sullivan says he’s fed up.

“Coming to and from jobs, places, all over, but it’s not just St. Paul, it’s Minneapolis, it’s north and south there’s an issue,” he said.

It’s an issue that city representatives on both sides of the Mississippi River blame on freeze-thaw fluctuations. With more changes in the weather to come, for now, they can only band-aid the pothole problem with a winter filler until the spring.

“The snow is melting and the water is getting down in the pavement surface and then when it refreezes, ice expands and so what happens in those areas where there’s patches, it forces us to move, creating a pothole,” said Lisa Cerney, the Minneapolis city engineer.

“Once the asphalt plants open in the spring when temperatures get a little bit warmer, we’ll be out there with the potholes filling them with the hot mix which is more permanent,” said Lisa Hiebert, St. Paul Public Works public information officer.

In the meantime, drivers will have to do their best to avoid the potholes as the city workers do their best to keep up.

“Maybe there should be a national night out in the communities, municipalities and the state in mid-July, where everybody goes out and fills a pothole or five potholes,” said Sullivan. “Maybe then the job would get done.”

St. Paul has four crews filling pot holes across the city. Meanwhile, in Minneapolis, crews on both shifts do the same.

If you see any potholes that need filling, call your city's public works office.