The Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) today announced that the City has begun street and alley resurfacing work nearly six weeks earlier than usual this season, thanks to favorable weather and efficiency improvements that eliminated the backlog of requests for pothole-repair services.

“We are taking advantage of the fact that we are keeping up with requests for pothole-repair services, which will allow our crews to switch from pothole duties to street and alley repaving services much earlier than normal,” said CDOT Commissioner Gabe Klein.  “By starting early this year, we will be able to repave more alleys and streets than in previous years.”

Klein said that CDOT plans to resurface more than 150 miles of streets and alleys this year.

EDITOR’S NOTE:   There will be an opportunity for video and photographs of a resurfacing crew at work in an alley at 1244 N. Clybourn Ave. today, March 22nd, between 1:45 p.m. and 2:45 p.m.

In previous years, crews would switch from potholes to resurfacing at the beginning of May after the majority of the potholes caused by the winter season had been addressed.   Because of the mild winter, there have been fewer new potholes created at the end of the season.

To date in 2012, CDOT crews have filled more than 145,000 alley and street potholes.  The months of January and February were average in terms of potholes filled.  But for March, when more potholes usually appear due to the fluctuation in ground temperatures, CDOT expects to fill about half of the usual amount of potholes for this month – about 60,000, compared to the nearly 120,000 in March 2011.

In 2011, CDOT crews filled more than 600,000 potholes, up from about 450,000 in 2010.

CDOT has been using new mapping technology to build daily grid routes to address the open calls for pothole-repair service in both streets and alleys, allowing crews to concentrate their efforts.  By working more efficiently, pothole-repair crews successfully eliminated the backlog of open requests for service within three months and are now keeping pace with daily calls for service.

Since November 2011, CDOT crews worked to eliminate a backlog of 7,000 service requests for pothole repairs.  By using technology and concentrating efforts in the areas of the city with the most need, CDOT has been able to deliver more efficient services to our residents.

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