Why 2023 Was The Year Of The Pothole In LA County (And How To Report Them)

Remember those intense storms this time last year? If you feel like roads around Los Angeles were a bit more chewed up than usual, you’d be right.

LAist reached out to the departments that take care of our asphalt to see how 2023 fared, and it’s clear we took a hard (and expensive) hit — in some places more than doubled than the year before.

Move over Spotify, it’s time for potholes to get a year in review.

Before we dig in, it’s important to know that responsibility for our roads are divided among three groups: the city of L.A., unincorporated L.A. and our freeway system.

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So... total potholes filled in last year:

123,940. (Cue the confetti.)

That’s way more than 2022. Let’s break it down.

L.A. City

StreetsLA is the department responsible for our 6,000 miles of roads in incorporated L.A. boundaries. There are a couple of ways they find potholes:

• Crews spot them while driving around.
• Angelenos report them, which crews go check out.

In most cases, reported potholes get fixed within a couple days. But sometimes, (and this may have happened to you) crews may opt to not repair a pothole right away after assessing it for a few reasons such as the size, weather and impact on traffic. But ultimately pretty much all reported potholes get filled in.

Here’s how many potholes L.A. crews tackled last year, according to StreetsLA data:

2023

• Total repaired potholes: 95,840
• Total reported potholes: 41,600
• Increase from previous year: 121%
• Cost: Not available

Yup, it was a banner year for road damage. According to spokesperson Dan Halden, from January to March 2023, “StreetsLA completed approximately the same number of pothole requests as in all of calendar year 2022.”

For comparison, Halden says the department received and completed 18,800 requests in 2022, which shows that potholes in the city practically doubled between the two years. So yes, the city was like Swiss cheese.

LAist asked StreetsLA for a cost figure for these potholes, but a cost breakdown for just repairs was not made available.

To report a pothole in the city:

Call 311 or make a request using the city's MyLA311 website and “Submit Service Request” feature. You can keep tabs on your report’s progress by following up with MyLA311 using your ticket’s tracking number. According to the bureau, you can also ask for a street service supervisor to call you with updates.

When using the app, the city recommends that you include the nearest intersection or address, and a photo — that’s so crews can confirm if it’s a pothole or some other road defect.

Unincorporated L.A. County

For the 2,600 miles of unincorporated areas, these streets are managed by L.A. County Public Works. These are areas that are not part of one of L.A. County’s 88 cities, and more than 65% of the county is unincorporated.

Like the city, they also find potholes based on Angelenos’ reports and crews finding them as part of their daily duties. Here’s how many potholes this department handled last year, according to L.A. County Public Works data:

2023

• Total repaired potholes: 10,800
• Total reported potholes: 1,600+
• Increase from previous year: 25%
• Cost: $2.5 million

Similar to the city of L.A., Elizabeth Vazquez, spokesperson for L.A. County Public Works, said the increase is due to “the heavy rainy season Los Angeles County experienced, which exacerbates the formation of potholes.”

To report a pothole in unincorporated L.A. County:

Call 800-675-HELP (4357). You can also log a request with Public Works’ online pothole form or use “The Works” app.

L.A. County and Ventura freeways

Caltrans District 7 is responsible for managing the highway system in L.A. and Ventura counties, so the pothole numbers here include some away from L.A.

Unlike the county and cities, they fill potholes based on severity because getting repair crews on the highway or freeway can create a lot of traffic disruption. While they identify most of the potholes — often drivers can’t safely report potholes while on the road — you can report them yourself when you’re a passenger or not driving. Here’s how many potholes this agency handled last year, according to Caltrans data:

2023

• Total repaired potholes: 17,308
• Total reported potholes: 2,300+
• Increase from previous year: 133% (more than double)
• Cost: $2.5 million

Freeway users were eagle-eyed last year: Caltrans District 7 got 1,400 more pothole reports than 2022. As with everyone else, storms were the culprit.

The time to repair the potholes varies, said Caltrans spokesperson Eric Menjivar, but it can take a few hours to days for a crew to respond.

To report a pothole on a highway:

You can report highway potholes to Caltrans by using its customer service website.