INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - The pothole problem in Indianapolis continues to get wider and deeper.
Downtown on 11th Street, deep and wide potholes are punishing cars. On the northeast side of Indianapolis, potholes are so large and numerous drivers can't miss them. We saw lots of drivers crossing the double yellow lines into the oncoming traffic lane to avoid the holes.
Keystone Avenue, however, is the worst. There are several potentially tire-eating craters blocking traffic and nearly causing accidents. Someone put a homemade sign on a utility pole. "Hey fix this!" it says with an arrow pointing to all the holes. It speaks of the frustration of thousands of weary road warriors.
"Why hasn't this been fixed sooner?" asked Nathan Orr. He lives on Keystone, right in front of one of the worst areas. From his living room, Orr can hear and see the near misses.
"Six lanes of traffic, you would think they would try to curb the accident rate here," he said. "It’s common sense."
"I’m as frustrated anyone else. But help is on the way," promised DPW Director Dan Parker. He's the "Top Gun" in the city's war against potholes.
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Next week, weather permitting, DPW will throw everything it has filling them. Repair crews will use permanent hot asphalt instead of the temporary cold patch they are shoveling out now. The pothole-filling blitz will target a backlog of more than 5,500 complaints.
"We're hoping our major thoroughfares will be filled, the public safety dander would be eliminated and the city crews will know we're working hard," Parker explained.
He said DPW crews haven't had a weekend off since Christmas. When they're not filling potholes, crews have been plowing and salting streets, fighting extreme changes in weather that creates even more potholes.