WASHINGTON — Little winter monsters are growing within area roads: The annual pothole bloom is slowly beginning, and area highway departments say they are ready to start eradication.
The first wild temperature swings of the season have created a fertile breeding ground for potholes on many D.C.-area roads.
Several WTOP listeners noted a large family of potholes in the outbound lanes of the Clara Barton Parkway past Chain Bridge late Monday. “Unfortunately with all the freezing and thawing that’s been going on the area roads, this is pothole season,” said Jonathon Shafer, with the National Park Service.
The Clara Barton Parkway, in the District and Maryland, along with the George Washington Parkway in Virginia, are maintained by the National Park Service. Shafer says a crew was sent to the location of the potholes as recently as Saturday and that another will be deployed as conditions allow.
“The National Park Service is doing everything in its power to make sure that motorists have a safe commute when they’re driving on the roads that we manage,” Shafer said.
Another WTOP listener points out a pothole that “could devour a whole SmartCar” on the northbound lanes of U.S. Route 1, near Cherry Hill Road, in College Park, Maryland.
“The ground was absolutely frozen solid for about a two-week period; then there was a rather drastic warm-up, so during that period our customer inquiries about potholes increased,” said Charlie Gischlar with the Maryland State Highway Administration.
The Maryland Department of Transportation allows drivers to report potholes online and says they aim to fill potholes with 24 hours of a request, depending on their workload.
“Our standard procedure is that after a snowstorm, our crews, in the days after, will patrol and fill potholes. We are approaching a season transition as well, which make potholes pop up even more,” Gischlar said.
Thanks to the lack of plow-worthy snowfalls, the Virginia Department of Transportation said, its pothole season is off to a slow start.
“We haven’t seen as much snow this year as our neighbors to the east have. The snowfall we have seen hasn’t been enough to go ‘plows down,’ where the plow blades push the snow along the road. In general, we have not had a tremendous amount of potholes develop on our roads thus far this winter,” says VDOT’s Ellen Kamilakis.
Still, a WTOP listener spotted a group of fledging potholes on South Van Dorn Street between the Capital Beltway and Eisenhower Avenue, describing them as “a series of early craters between the lanes causing swerving from both lanes.” Perhaps the offspring of potholes past?
To report a pothole:
- D.C.: Call 311, email potholepalooza@dc.gov or tweet to @ddotdc
- Maryland State Highway Administration: Report online
- Virginia Department of Transportation: Report online or call: 800-367-7623
- Alexandria, Virginia: Report online or call 703-746-4488
- Arlington, Virginia: Report online
- Howard County, Maryland: Email highway@howardcountymd.gov
- Anne Arundel County, Maryland: Report online or call 410-222-7045
- Calvert County, Maryland: Email public.works@co.cal.md.us or call 410-535-0905 or 410-535-0906
- Charles County, Maryland: Call 800-595-7623
- Fairfax City, Virginia: Email WeCare@fairfaxva.gov or call 703-385-7810
- Fairfax County/Northern Virginia: Visit the potholes page
- Frederick County, Maryland: Report online, email OHighOpsEmail@FrederickCountyMD.gov or call 301-600-1564
- Montgomery County, Maryland: Report online
- Prince George’s County, Maryland: Visit the potholes page
- St. Mary’s County, Maryland: Report online or call 301-863-8400
