ODOT’s got a brand new patch.

Video and Story by Devon D. McCarty

You may be used to updating your cellphone or computer, but did you know your pothole patch has just upgraded?

Mark Griffiths, the Portage County manager, works out of the Ohio Department of Transportation(ODOT) depot. He orders everything from rock salt to roadway patch, and dispatches his workers all over the county to make the roadways as clear and safe as possible. For the last several years, Portage County had been purchasing its supply of roadway patch from a private dealer in Ravenna.

“He had it, we needed it,” Said Alex Zavara. “Simple as that.”

Zavara is a Highway Technician 3 (HT3) for ODOT. You can see him working alongside his team on roadways all over Portage county. For him, there was a clear need for something better to be used to repair roadways than what they were currently purchasing.

“Vehicles would hit it and blast it right out of the potholes,” Zavara said. “We wouldn’t even look for the holes to repair them, we would look for the patch that was blasted all over.”

That’s where Griffiths comes back into the fold. He had heard enough complains from his crew that they were burning more time doing re-repair’s that could have been better used repairing other damaged roadways. After reaching out to other road repair crews, Griffiths was told of a private company out of Pennsylvania that was selling a better and cheaper version of the patch.

“Per pound, it runs us about 300 bucks cheaper,” Griffiths said. “And it lasts a heck of a lot longer.”

The company Griffiths was buying the patch from was a local man that had a lot of extra patch and wanted to get rid of it. He had no plans to make or order any more. When Griffiths considered the complaints of his workers along with news of a better and more reliable source out of Pennsylvania, he took it.

“It’s a night and day difference,” Zavara said. “As long as we set it right and pack it properly, that patch isn’t going anywhere.”