Mayor Rahm Emanuel today announced the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) is adding six more pothole crews capable of filling an additional 1,500 potholes a day as the city tackles the large amount of depressions that have surfaced during this historically cold and snowy winter.

The new crews will come from the ranks of seasonal asphalt workers, who normally work for CDOT during the summer months on street repaving projects, and they will be on the job by March 1.

With the additional labor, CDOT will have nearly 30 pothole crews on the street at one time, including double the amount of crews that currently work weekends. The extra crews will fill approximately 25,000 more holes next month, and CDOT is expected to fill more than 165,000 potholes in that time.

"CDOT works to ensure our roadways are safe, and this includes repairing the many potholes that have formed during this tough winter season," said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. "City workers have done a tremendous job making repairs in all neighborhoods to keep Chicago moving, but the extreme cold and historic snow totals have made it necessary to add workers."

CDOT pothole crews are on the street seven days a week to address potholes in streets and alleys across Chicago. Since the beginning of the year, crews have already repaired more than 175,000 potholes, using more than 3,500 tons of patching material.

Last year, CDOT crews repaired more than 625,000 potholes in streets and alleys across Chicago and are ahead of that pace in 2014. This year, CDOT has been filling an average of nearly 250 potholes per crew per day.

Chicagoans can track the fight against potholes and see a week's worth of CDOT's work on the City's Pothole Tracker application (www.cityofchicago.org/potholetracker), which shows not only the calls for service but the number of potholes filled during each site visit.

Mayor Emanuel also announced this week that the City intends to repave 300 miles of city streets this summer, which will help to improve the overall quality of the streets and reduce the number of potholes we may see next winter.

Chicagoans can report potholes in a number of ways, including:
• Calling 311
• Using the City's website at www.cityofchicago.org/311 or various Open 311 smartphone apps including: SeeClickFix and Chicago Works. For more web and smartphone civic apps, visit Chicago Digital.
• Using ChiText by texting "Chicago" to 311311 to start the reporting process

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