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It’s déjà vu for Omaha public works employees.
“It’s exactly repeating itself,” said Fred Thole, the city’s street superintendent. “We are working around the clock again.”
Potholes that had been filled once are being filled again, because moisture from snow and ice has caused the patches to dislodge, Thole said.
About 15 city workers were handling snow and ice removal on Saturday, while 50 others focused on filling potholes.
Thole said the crews will stay in that mode until tonight, when the forecast calls for more snow.
“It’s disappointing because we didn’t think the (pothole) cycle would be that bad with two days of bad weather,” Thole said of the recent storm.
“I thought we would have a higher percentage survive this storm, but with the amount of moisture and heavy traffic volume, they were coming out at an unbelievable rate.” Thole said the city is filling potholes with cold patch this weekend.
He said the arctic temperatures expected early this week will pose another problem.
“It’s going to be a lot of repetitive patching,” Thole said. “In the springtime it’s going to be just as bad as it is now, but as good weather approaches we will get them all fixed.”
Thole said some of the worse places for potholes include parts of L and Center Streets and Saddle Creek Road.
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