Pothole Warriors
Building a city for everyone, street by street
The war against potholes begins bright and early each morning, as our Public Works crews roll in at Susi Asphalt in Hyde Park and load up on the day’s munitions: a two-ton heap of steaming hot asphalt mix on each truck bed, covered carefully by a tarp and prayers for no rain.
The clock starts running.
Depending on the temperature and humidity forecast, it’s four to five hours left of non-stop hustle to get all that sticky mix into the ground before it cools and dries up, terminating one horrible hole after another. You won’t find anyone who knows Boston’s streets and roadways better than Public Works, with an encyclopedic knowledge of every incline, one-way, utility casting, and traffic hotspot. Their daily ballet of scouting, sweeping, pouring, and tamping strives for safe and smooth passage that, if all goes to plan, hundreds of thousands of drivers won’t notice at all.
As of yesterday, our crews have filled 4,967 potholes throughout Boston’s neighborhoods this year. The median response time to get a pothole filled after it’s been reported through the 311 constituent services app or hotline is just under a day, although response times vary and can be much shorter during the height of pothole season, March-May, when a greater number of reported cases makes routing much more efficient. Our departmental service-level agreement holds us to a standard of filling a pothole within 24 hours of reporting, year-round.
Last year I asked the experts to teach me how it’s done. We met up in Charlestown, where Dee, Jerome, and Norman patiently showed me how to brush away the debris, shovel in the mix, and tamp it down hard. I worked as fast as I could but was told I wouldn’t make the cut for the hustle needed to move efficiently through the list before the asphalt cools. The team also gave me a lesson in the science behind potholes and why we’re seeing more popping out on our roads in recent years.
Bottom line: water is the enemy. Our crews go out in any weather except for rain, because water ruins the stickiness and cohesion of the mix. But water doesn’t just prevent potholes from getting fixed–it’s the reason why potholes develop in the first place. Potholes form most quickly when water settles into cracks and crevices on the roads, freezes and expands, then thaws and loosens up the surface. The more frequently this freeze-thaw cycle happens, the faster our roadway surface crumbles.
And as Boston’s winters become warmer with climate change, we no longer have just one major freeze-thaw moment when the cold lifts in the spring. Instead, much of the winter season fluctuates above and below freezing as unseasonably warm days become more common, generating potholes with each new melt. Even after the cold has lifted, increasingly intense rain can create potholes as rushing stormwater dislodges roadway materials and accelerates deterioration. Assistant Superintendent of Highways Clarence Perkins, who helps oversee the crews managing roadways in each of Boston’s ten public works districts, says they get ready whenever a storm passes through; give it two or three days and the pothole reports come flowing in.
Given our unique mix of precipitation, temperatures, and sun angles that produce a perfectly disruptive freeze-thaw rhythm, our other Assistant Superintendent Danny Nee calls Boston “the Champagne region for potholes.” The varietals are dizzying: true potholes, sinkholes, make-safes, roadway defects, and utility cuts—all calling out for asphalt. Once temperatures climb reliably above freezing in springtime, Boston shares cheers (and jeers) for pothole hunting season. Our district crews go all out, with each team addressing upwards of 50 cases a day to cure our roads after winter.
Water has the greatest potential to seep in where two different surfaces meet, such as around manhole covers or other utility castings. Even on a newly resurfaced road, the gaps that can form around utility castings when different materials expand and contract differently under temperature fluctuation are a breeding ground for potholes. But because the utility companies have jurisdiction and responsibility for maintaining the 30-inch radius of roadway surrounding each of their covers or castings, the City’s Public Works team includes a Supervisor of Utility Compliance to ensure coordination and accountability. We also advocate rather than administer fixes for potholes on state roadways owned by DCR and MassDOT, such as Gallivan Boulevard, Morton Street, Day Boulevard, Storrow Drive, Turtle Pond Parkway, and the Columbia Road I-93 interchange.
Pothole by pothole, we’re always striving to do more, work smarter, and collaborate better with other agencies and community members. In a world of urgent challenges around housing affordability, schools, transit, climate, and more—we do big things by getting the small things right. So how can residents get involved in the push for safe and smooth streets?
Use Boston 311 to report potholes or basic city services needed anywhere in the city. Download the app (now available in 11 languages!) or call 311 to make a report. Each case goes directly into the work queue for our teams to efficiently route and address. Although pictures aren’t required for pothole reports, the automatic geotagging is only accurate to within a 100-yard radius, so having a photo to visually locate the pothole saves our team precious hustle time.
Help recruit for key roles on our team. We are continuously hiring for Public Works roles and have many opportunities for residents with a CDL license! We’ve been focused on building hiring pipelines directly from community, with cross-departmental job fairs and collaborations with partners such as Madison Park Vocational Technical High School.
Help educate your networks on other Public Works services, like mattress recycling. Another part of Public Works’ responsibilities is overseeing trash and recycling, and since the state law changed in November 2022 to require mattress recycling, our processes require making an appointment for pickup rather than just leaving mattresses on the curb with regular trash pickup as before. Help us spread the word, so Public Works can continue to deliver on potholes and every other part of their work. Learn more here.
Every pothole fixed adds up to a safe and smooth commute, cherished community, and beautiful city. And every constituent service delivered is the foundation for empowering civic engagement to build impact across all issues, so Boston can truly be a city for everyone.
Does a city for everyone include the whites??
Called 311 and was told that they know Berkeley street is bad... end of conversation.
Is there a work schedule for Berkeley street (from Expressway all the way to Storrow Drive)? As the main thoroughfare through the city, it really needs some work ASAP.