The Village of Oak Park | 123 Madison St.  Oak Park, IL 60302 | village@oak-park.us

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Streets crews shift from plowing snow to filling potholes

March 27, 2014 – With winter more or less in the rearview mirror, Public Works crews have turned their full attention to the season’s aftermath – a bumper crop of potholes. Residents can help by reporting potholes at www.oak-park.us/pothole, where they also can upload a photograph.

Pothole patching is ongoing throughout the season, but this year’s record number of snow events has meant fewer opportunities to focus on this important task.

“This winter has been especially difficult on our crews and resources,” said Public Works Director John Wielebnicki. “We had to spend so much time plowing and salting that we couldn’t give potholes the attention they might get in a typical winter season. Since we have gotten a break from plowing around the clock, we have been working hard to catch up.”

Even with less time than usual spent on patching potholes, crews still have used some 100 tons of fill since February, which is significantly more than used by this time last year. Wielebnicki said the Village is using a special cold mix material that should hold up better than the typical asphalt patch used in the past.

But the work is labor-intensive, Wielebnicki said, and it will take time to get to every pothole in the community.

“We appreciate residents letting us know about potholes in their neighborhoods, but hope they will understand and be patient if it takes us a while to get there,” he said. “We are systematically covering the entire Village, focusing first on the most heavily traveled main streets. But if there is an especially bad one out there, residents should let us know and we will try to make it a priority.”

In the meantime, the Public Works Department also is gearing up for the coming construction season, which will include resurfacing of several Village streets. Information on the capital improvement projects planned for this year is posted at www.oak-park.us/cip.