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LA's Pothole Problems Are So Bad The City Council Says It's Time For A Repair 'Blitz'
File photo. Los Angeles city worker Hugo Vasquez shovels asphalt into a pothole. (Photo by Sharon McNary/KPCC)
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L.A. City Council members say the city's roads are so bad that they're funding a "pothole blitz" to make repairs and try to intervene.
The council unanimously voted Friday on a motion to authorize $250,000 in funding. Councilmember Nury Martinez was the author.
In a statement, she said extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures.
"It's time for us to address the pothole emergency head on, because it not only impacts our roads but the safety of our residents as well," she said.
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The problem has reached this level because of the winter weather, Martinez said. Heavy rain has worsened the city's streets.
Downtown L.A. rainfall in 2019 has already surpassed totals for all of last year, according to the National Weather Service.
The funding, which comes from the city's portion of the countywide Measure M sales tax increase, will support a four-week operation. The city plans to deploy 10-20 pothole trucks per weekend. Workers will proactively identify unreported potholes around the city and work to repair them.
The first of the four repair weekends will start the weekend of March 9 and 10. Martinez' office estimates the funding will cover the repair of about 1,200 potholes across the city.
December through March are typically the worst months for potholes and receive the highest number of repair requests, according to Paul Gomez, a public relations representative for the Department of Public Works. Gomez says the city has not yet determined which neighborhoods will be targeted by the pothole truck drivers.
If you have problem potholes in your neighborhood you can report them by calling 311. In January, over 3,911 pothole repair requests were submitted.
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