Pothole Repairs Have Potential for Improvement

Despite the Ohio Department of Transportation’s efforts to maintain road maintenance and repair potholes in Portage County, residents in the area are less than satisfied with the effort.

“I run into potholes every time I drive in the area,” senior business major Michael Rosengarten said. “Some areas are worse than others but it’s almost a guarantee to run into at least one.”

Part of the problem stems from the lack of potholes being reported. While the ODOT receives reports in many forms such as email, phone calls, word of mouth, and through their ‘report a pothole’ service on their website, not many people are aware of those services in reporting potholes.

“I had no idea you could report potholes to anybody, but that’s helpful information to know,” Kent resident Kara Curry said.

“We fix them as soon as possible. If it’s during a normal business hour, we’ll get to it in about an hour or so,” said Justin Chesnic, public information officer for the ODOT.

According to Chesnic, anywhere from $3,000 to $4,000 is allocated for road repairs in Portage County per year, which includes not only pothole repairs but also burn repairs and other road-related maintenance.

Portage County is maintained in ODOT’s fourth district. In 2015, $265 million was spent on construction projects around the county, including 42 resurfacing projects, 20 bridge projects and 26 safety projects.

Some argue that the reporting of potholes may not be the only issue, but that the way potholes are repaired might be part of the problem.

“It seems that potholes always reform in the same spots, usually bigger than the previous year,” Rosengarten said. “Obviously upkeep and repairs to potholes need to happen, but maybe look into other alternatives to fixing potholes than the quick fix stuff. Clearly some different material should be looked into to fix them.”

Alternative solutions include an invention created by five Case Western students who have since co-founded the company Hole Patch LLC. Hole Patch is a non-Newton fluid pothole filler that maintains liquid form, but acts as a solid when force is applied. It would be a cheaper, temporary and more effective alternative to repairing pothole damages in roads and streets.

Mayank Saksena, one of Hole Patch’s co-founders, could not be reached for comment.