LANSING, Mich. — According to the city of Lansing, the pothole situation this year is very bad. Almost 480 pothole complaints were reported through Lansing Connect in March alone.
Mechanics in the area like EJ’s Alignment & Brakes are booking weeks ahead. “We have been extremely busy,” said Pamela Heighland, the secretary of EJ’s Alignment & Brakes. “We are booking about three weeks out now.”
Heighland said people come in with damaged cars because of potholes every single day.
“Oh, I think they are the worst they have ever been,” Heighland said. “I mean, it’s knocking tires out of balance or alignment, bending rims, and popping tires.”
On its website, the city of Lansing says they will fix potholes within 48 hours after they are being reported.
“If we were in a situation where we were in a rain event, and we weren't able to fill during that time, it might be a little longer. But our goal is to get 95 percent of those within 24 hours of being reported,” said Andy Kilpatrick, Lansing’s public service director.
FOX 47 decided to test it out and anonymously reported five potholes through Lansing Connectlast week. We found that four out of five potholes were fixed between 24 and 48 hours.
“This year, our potholes are pretty bad,” Kilpatrick said. He said they were not as bad for the last two years because of the winter conditions and possibly a lower traffic volume because of the pandemic. “This year is kind of mirroring 2019.”
Kilpatrick said as of right now, they are closer to 500 to 600 total requests that came in through Lansing Connect in 2022 and around 500 tons of asphalt or cold patch material, which has already been used to fix it.
According to a city’s report, the condition of Lansing streets are ranked on average a three out of ten.
“The big issue is just lack of funding,” Kilpatrick aid. “Anytime the roads are deteriorating, it's not like filling potholes is a magic bullet. That's the same thing as maybe you're starting to get a leak on your roof and you patch one shingle, and you think that's going to solve the issue. Really, once you start to have potholes, that's an indication the road is deteriorated and is failing.”
Kilpatrick said the roads need to be kept in good condition by keeping water out of them. “That will prevent these potholes from forming and kind of growing,” Kilpatrick said.
Unless roads are being resurfaced, Kilpatrick said we will continue to see potholes.
Potholes in the city of Lansing can be reported here.
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