The melt is on: Snow pickup gives way to pothole patching

A string of days with temperatures in the 30s has lessened the load of snow a bit but also caused potholes to start popping again.

So the Sioux Falls street maintenance division has shifted gears, wrapping up snow pickup and pivoting to potholes.

“A slow melt: We’ll take it,” street operations manager Dustin Hansen said. “We’re still picking up snow. We’ve got a few crews out, but we’re down to secondary (streets) and mainly focused in the core area on picking up snow or clearing critical inlets.”

Street crews worked over the weekend tackling potholes and have focused on it all week, he said.

“Sioux Falls is not immune. Go to Omaha or Lincoln or Minneapolis or any northern climate city, and they have a lot of potholes,” he said. “The weather is the biggest factor, and the biggest issue is freeze-thaw.”

Even temperatures going from 34 to 28 degrees and back again is enough to allow moisture to seep into cracks in the street and create a void. When a vehicle drives over it, “it starts cracking, and inevitably the pothole forms within days or weeks,” Hansen said.

“I think we’re making fairly good progress, but when we you get record snowfalls in less than a month, it’s hard to stay ahead.”

With a break in the snow and cold, the city is dedicating more resources to potholes, he said.

“We’re going to continue to push hard in patching potholes, and we might add a fifth or sixth crew and potentially work the weekends,” Hansen said.

With snow drop-off sites filling up, luckily the forecast seems fairly calm, he added.

“There’s a small one Thursday, but it continues to downgrade, and another small one next week but nothing significant,” he said. “The 10-day is kind of the same weather pattern where it’s mid-30s, maybe upper 30s, and the days are getting longer, and that’s always a good thing. The more melting we can get, the better. We just don’t want 50 or 60 degrees.”

The city plans to meet next week to receive information on the outlook for flooding, he said.

In the meantime, to report a pothole call 605-367-8600 or download the city’s See Click Fix App to report one digitally.

“The crews use smart devices to pull up the request and go right to the location of the pothole as long as it’s marked correctly,” Hansen said. “We’ve continued to ask for patience this winter, and that’s a main theme. Have patience with our crews and all across the area as they continue to pick up snow and fix these road issues.”