TOLEDO, Ohio — The goal to fill 50,000 potholes within the next six weeks is in motion due to the City of Toledo's "Pothole Emergency" plan.
Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz announced the plan Thursday afternoon in news conference.
“We are dividing the city into four zones and will attack this problem systematically and efficiently for the next six weeks, at the end of which we will have 50,000 fewer potholes than we do today,” Mayor Kapszukiewicz said.
It's part of his pothole emergency plan.
The mayor says the city will be divided into four zones to complete their goal.
To do this, the number of daily pothole crews will be more than tripled from four to 13. This means public service employees will be pulled away from other duties, such as city sweeping, to help fill the potholes.
Crews working on demolition projects, alley maintenance and the mill and fill road surfacing program won't be affected.
“A large contingent of city employees will be methodically moving through streets to fill all potholes in an efficient manner, rather than crisscrossing the city based on complaints. This will be done by zone, which is the most efficient way to tackle this crisis.”
The Lucas County Engineers Officer has also decided to step in and help Toledo streets by providing two crews to the city for two weeks under a partnership.
“This is the number one priority for the city right now,” Mayor Kapszukiewicz said. “Cities across the state have struggled to fix roads for years because of major reductions in state allocations. During the past 10 years, the city of Toledo has lost nearly $100 million from the state of Ohio. To put that in perspective, that is roughly the size of our budget for the entire police department and the municipal court system. This has become a crisis for cities all across Ohio. A drive through any of Ohio’s major cities, including Toledo, shows the urgent need to fix our infrastructure problem.”
City crews have already filled more than 25,100 potholes so far this year.
