For Immediate Release            

May 4, 2006

Contact: Christine Falvey

Tel: (415) 554-6920 

                                                  ***PRESS RELEASE***           

Public Works Kicks Off 2006 Pothole Filling Season

Crews increase repairs as

winter storms and spring rains subside

Photo Opportunity Available of Pothole Crew in Action by request.

San Francisco – The Department of Public Works (DPW) is gearing up for a busy season for pothole repair.  Historically, spring is the time of year when the department experiences and increase in pothole complaints and an increase in occurrences of these street defects. The department has employed a proactive pothole repair program designed to fill as many potholes as possible by the end of the fiscal year. DPW has assigned an additional crew to proactively patrol all of the major arterials and corridors in the City.

“This season’s heavy rains have made it imperative, now more than ever, that we direct appropriate funding to street maintenance and pothole repair,” said Mayor Newsom. “This new funding will not only ensure that our potholes get repaired, but that our streets are safe for motorists, bicyclists and pedestrians,” added Newsom.

Mayor Newsom increased the department’s pothole annual budget by $300,000 in the annual budget last year (2005/06) and may receive an additional $100,000 this next fiscal year to keep up with the demand of pothole repair in San Francisco. A record breaking rainy winter and spring season has been a factor in increased occurrences of potholes (In March alone it rained 25 of 31 days of the month, breaking a 102-year-old record). In addition, the City’s streets have been facing a backlog of paving demands due to decreased state and federal funding allocated to road resurfacing projects, which has resulted in additional defects appearing.

The department finds 95 percent of the potholes it fills and DPW fills potholes reported by the public within 48 hours a majority of the time.

“Being responsive to citizen complaints is our highest priority, however, by focusing our efforts on a proactive plan, we will decrease the number of complaints that come in and more efficiently tackle the pothole problem in the City,” said Fred V. Abadi, Ph.D., Director of Public Works. “The best way to keep San Francisco’s streets defect-free is a well managed and well-funded street resurfacing program,” he added.

In 2005/2006, DPW will spend $1.5 million this fiscal year in pothole repair and patch paving. To date for 2005/2006, DPW has received 1,035 pothole complaints. In 2004/05, DPW filled 11,600 potholes and is on track to meet that number this year.  However, the department’s patch paving crew, which paves over larger areas in our streets to fill several potholes and other street defects at one time, has increased 33 percent over the last year from 302,583 square feet in 2004/2005 to an estimated 417,000 by the end of June.

 DPW finds and fills the majority of potholes in San Francisco. When the public calls in a complaint, the department responds to inspect within 24 hours (95% of the time) and fills the pothole within 48 hours (63% of the time).  Some potholes and road defects are caused by sewer failures or poorly restored utility cuts, in which case city and private utilities are called out to make the repairs.

DPW continues its separate road resurfacing program, which has received $15 million in increased funding, to repave major corridors into and out of San Francisco, which will begin later next month and continue into the next year. 

There are about 911 miles of roadway within the City and County of San Francisco with 2,065 lane miles. DPW finds these holes and repairs them quickly to minimize the danger they can cause. The pothole & patch paving program uses nearly 4,000 tons of asphalt produced by the DPW-run Asphalt Plant to make these roadway repairs annually. The Public may call DPW’s Customer Service Line 415-28-CLEAN to report potholes.

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