GREENSBURG, Pa. — If you’ve driven up and down North Main Street toward and away from downtown Greensburg, you’ve seen them. There are massive potholes on both sides of the road, mostly between Cabin Hill Road and Locust Valley Road.
“I hate to say this, but I try to swerve all the holes,” said Joseph Zeoli of Greensburg.
Channel 11 first heard complaints about the potholes about 10 days ago, and the situation continued to get worse.
“It’s very frustrating,” Zeoli said. “I really live out in the country, but we travel here through Greensburg a lot and the potholes are really bad.”
The road is maintained by PennDOT. But, the city’s public works director tells Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek his phone has been ringing with complaints nonstop.
“What can they do? They can’t fix them when it’s cold,” said Tom Hart of Greensburg.
PennDOT said the cold weather is to blame.
“This winter is unlike a lot that we’ve had in recent years past,” said Laina Aquiline of PennDOT District 12.
Channel 11′s Andrew Havranek reached out to PennDOT asking about the pothole situation Tuesday morning.
Within three hours of his email, crews were out on North Main Street working to temporarily patch the holes.
Aquiline said a lot of complaints about these and other potholes across the region started to come in during last week’s extreme cold.
“The potholes are created when there are rapid freeze/thaw cycles, and we’re seeing a lot of that right now which accounts for the pretty significant number of potholes you’re seeing and what we’re hearing about,” she said.
Crews worked to put something called “cold patch” in the potholes. It’s a temporary fix of asphalt mixed with soap, water, and fine stones.
That should last through the winter.
“When the asphalt plants reopen across Pennsylvania and then we’re able to get the materials we need to do more substantial, permanent fixes,” Aquiline said.
PennDOT is asking drivers that if they come across potholes like this in the roadway to report them so they can be filled as soon as possible.
You can report potholes by calling 1-800-FIX-ROAD or go to customercare.penndot.pa.gov
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