SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Lingering showers as the recent storm began to move out of San Diego County will slow crews attempting to fill the plentiful potholes that have opened, or in some cases, reopened.
In a statement to ABC 10News, spokesperson Anthony Santacroce wrote:
"With City forces in full storm patrol mode and current storm conditions prohibiting the execution of our pothole patching program in full, street crews will continue to cold-patch large potholes as they are encountered during the course of responding to storm-related reports. As conditions start to improve and dry out, the Transportation Department will evaluate the number and location of pothole reports and begin the prioritization process and patching program to ensure safe, drivable streets. The Transportation Department closely monitors the pothole cases and will fully deploy field crews to address the expected growing needs due to the rainy conditions over the past several weeks."
Dr. Hassan Davani, an engineering professor at San Diego State University, says a combination of factors go into the city's continued pothole problem. Davani says warmer summers and stronger storms, both linked to climate change, produce conditions that exacerbate potholes.
He also says problems with San Diego's stormwater infrastructure, which were exposed during the recent devastating floods, also impact potholes because they can form when roads are not draining properly.
"You can't only focus on potholes and fixing them, ignoring what is happening every time it rains," Davani said.
While Davani says climate change could create conditions for a preponderance of potholes in the near future, technology is being developed to help solve the problem.
That includes AI-driven robots that can sense trouble spots and fix them before they open and new forms of asphalt that can repair itself.
"San Diego is not the only region in the world dealing with this. There are labs in U.K., in Europe, across the U.S., and other places that they are studying this because they are such annoying issues and they need to be fixed," Davani says.
