Photo by lifeinthedistrict

Among other things, the exceptionally cold and somewhat snowy weather this winter has wreaked havoc on the District’s streets, causing numerous potholes to develop throughout the city.

But despite the increasing amount of potholes popping up, the District Department of Transportation, along with Mayor Vince Gray, announced that they’ve been pretty vigilant about filling them. So far this year, DDOT has filled more than 5,700 potholes around the city, according to a release. And with the District’s annual Potholepalooza—a month-long campaign that adds extra crews to fill potholes within 48 hours of request around the city—launching soon, that number will grow.

“The extreme cold and large number of snow events this winter has led to a significant number of potholes developing in the District,” Gray said in a release. “Instead of waiting for our annual Potholepalooza campaign in the spring to begin addressing these issues, DDOT got a head start. The agency has preempted this campaign by scouring the city to fill thousands of potholes so that we can keep our streets in good shape and kick off Potholepalooza in good form.”

POTHOLES!

Here’s a breakdown of DDOT’s pothole-filling efforts by month: 3,213 potholes in January, and more than 2,500 filled thus far this month. More impressively is that most potholes were filled in a three-day turnaround after they were reported.

After the big storm tonight and tomorrow, I’m sure there will be a lot more popping up, so keep up the good work DDOT!

You can report a pothole in one of four ways: