Midstate Potholes Persist, Prolonged Proliferation Probable

NASHVILLE, TN -- It's been a record-setting winter in Middle Tennessee. Not necessarily for temperatures or precipitation, but for potholes.

Through Sunday, Metro had patched 9,179 potholes, an 80 percent increase over the 5,087 filled through mid-March last year, according to The Tennessean. Spending on pothole patching by the Tennessee Department of Transportation has nearly quintupled and TDOT crews are using as much as seven times more patching material than usual each day.

Why? Because the famously fickle Middle Tennessee weather has been even more capricious than usual. Potholes are caused by a combination of traffic stress and changing weather. Water - be it from rain or melting snow and ice - seeps through pre-existing cracks in roadways into the soil below. When temperatures drop below freezing, the trapped water expands, pushing the soil and road surface up. When things warm again, the underlying ground shrinks away from the pavement, which remains elevated with nothing below. Cars drive over the weakened road, opening up a hole.

While the Midstate has had a relatively paltry amount of snow and ice, it has experienced plunging temperatures followed by unseasonable heat waves, a recipe for record amounts of potholes. Then came February, the third wettest on record in Nashville, pushing total rainfall for 2018 over 13 inches, more than 50 percent above normal.

And Monday's brief blast of cold air is likely to make things worse.

Though Nashville was spared accumulating snowfall, TDOT had its crews report for brining duty at midnight, preparing for the worst-case scenario. Brining and road treatment crews are the same ones who do pothole repairs on state-maintained roads, so any holes that open up won't be repaired right away.

The Tennessean reports that Metro road crews are already clocking up to six hours of overtime daily and working weekends to try and catch up, but still the average response time for a pothole is nearly four days, though Public Works aims for a 24-hour turnaround. There's so many, a triage system is in place to get the worst potholes in the most heavily traveled areas patched first.

There is a bit of good news though. Plants will soon start producing "hot mix," which is much more effective for patching than the cold mix that has to be used during the winter, a TDOT spokesperson told WSMV.

Drivers who incur damage do have some recourse. If the damage was on a road maintained by the state - interstates, U.S. Highways or state routes - claims can be filed through the state's treasury department's Division of Claims Administration.

But, predictably, there are plenty of requirements and some caveats.

The state will reimburse drivers if the pothole causing damage had been previously reported or otherwise there had been plenty of time to repair it. The claims administration has 90 days to review the complaint and it must receive two damage estimates before cutting a check.

Tennessee drivers aren't generally successful with the process, either. Between July 2016 and December 2017, 488 people filed pothole claims with the state. Nine were approved.

Drivers can report potholes on line for Metro-maintained roads and those that incur significant damage from potholes can file a claim with Metro, but to receive payment, drivers must prove negligence. The approval rate from the city isn't any better than that of the state, with only one approved between 2013 and 2016.

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