Pothole Patrol: What Oak Forest Streets Should You Avoid?

Any longstanding south suburban resident will tell you that surviving a Chicago-area winter isn't just about dealing with the bone-chilling cold or the back-breaking snow shoveling. It's also about avoiding the jaw-jarring potholes on local roads.

Drivers around Oak Forest, Tinley Park and other surrounding communities have already started sharing their tales of navigating neighborhood streets to miss the potentially car-crippling craters that already have begun cropping up this winter. And like most things in life, preparation is the key to dodging the area's plague of potholes — and please don't call them "chuckholes"; we're not Wisconsinites.

That's where Patch readers come in: Tell us the locations of some of the worst potholes in Oak Forest. We'll keep a running list so motorists can avoid these streets — or at least the potholes on them — and hopefully avoid a flat tire or two.

This works the other way, too: People can pass along the places where potholes have been paved over and repaired. Oak Forest residents also can contact the Public Works Department at 708-535-4090 from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. weekdays about potholes that need patching or fill out an online form with the information.

To get things started, we searched online to find some of the roads residents were warning others to stay drive carefully over because of potholes. Here's what we found:

• Harlem Avenue, between 163rd and 191st streets. Some of the worst spots along this stretch include 171st Street and near the entrances of Sam's Club and the now-closed Kmart in Tinley Park
• Harlem Avenue, just north of St. Francis Road, near the now-closed Lincoln-Way North High School in Frankfort
• 167th Street, near Ridgeland Avenue in Tinley Park
• 167th Street exit from Interstate 57 in Oak Forest
• 171st Street, just east of Harlem Avenue and before Oak Park Avenue in Tinley Park.

YOUR TURN: Where have you seen the worst potholes in Oak Forest and surrounding south suburban communities? Share your locations in the comments section, and Patch will continue to update the list.

Photo via Patch archive