Brace yourselves, Omaha drivers:
Many potholes might remain unfilled by the year's first snowfall, despite earlier reports that most residential neighborhoods would be pothole-free by the end of June.
Scott McIntyre, Omaha's street maintenance engineer, says the city first focused on major streets — all of which have been completed since winter but incurred more potholes since — and has just begun concentrating on residential areas.
His latest estimate is that it will be November before most potholes are filled.
McIntyre had said in late March that he hoped most potholes would be fixed by May, and in May he said residential zones would be completed in early June.
City crews have fallen short of those predictions, however, and McIntyre said he “misspoke” about residential streets being completed by early June. McIntyre said the city has hit residential areas later than previous years because of the resources required on major streets.
As of Wednesday, the city had finished about 20 percent of the residential areas and had made initial repairs on all major streets.
“They've been calling about a particular pothole or particular street for four months, and it's still there,” McIntyre said. “We know that. We know the condition the streets are in ... we didn't fix those because our resources were on the majors.”
Council member Ben Gray said the city can't be expected to finish earlier than November given its sparse resources and tight budget. Council member Pete Festersen said the city has been “responsive” to the “ongoing battle,” but said he preferred to emphasize street resurfacing, which could help prevent future potholes.
Ron Gerard, spokesman for Mayor Jim Suttle, said the mayor is considering funding more street resurfacing by increasing the city wheel tax. Gerard said the city needs more funding for a comprehensive street maintenance program to structurally improve the road system. The current wheel tax is $35 per vehicle tax and hasn't been raised since 2004.
“We're beyond the point of being able to fix the problem by patching potholes,” he said. “We're not really getting at the underlying problem. It's not cost-effective anymore.”
A wheel tax increase would require City Council approval.
Gray said he supports boosting the wheel tax by at least $17 per vehicle to generate revenue for street maintenance.
“We haven't moved on it yet, but we don't have the money, resources or people to get it done faster,” Gray said. “Something is going to have to give.”
Glen Fant, who lives near 60th and Spencer Streets, said he's disappointed with city street maintenance.
“This should have been done by June 1,” said the retired Metropolitan Utilities District employee. “If we were late paying a bill to them, they'd be all over us.”
An abnormally heavy snowfall last winter made the city's pothole problem worse than normal, McIntyre said. Snow plowed to roadsides didn't melt for weeks at a time, and repeated freeze-thaw cycles exacerbated the problem.
The volume of work left means the city won't be able to revisit many repairs in the autumn months, when crews typically smooth out major roads that have endured multiple restorations.
The city has spent a total of $2.8 million on pothole work: $800,000 on asphalt, $900,000 on private contractors and $1.1 million on overtime. The cost has exceeded the $1.05 million budget for such work by $1.75 million. Contract work was not budgeted.
“When you've got thousands of lane miles — as we do — of major streets, collector streets and residential streets, there's never a shortage of repairs to be done,” McIntyre said.
But Rachel Stearns, 32, said the roads around her home near 51st and Blondo Streets are in decent shape.
“They've improved a bit, although there's still one large one by Metcalfe Park that's a problem,” she said. “On a scale of one to 10, I guess I'd rate them a seven.”
McIntyre said city crews will continue to work Saturdays.
While the work is progressing, if repairs run into the winter, some potholes might take even longer to fill.
“When it's snowing, we're in a snow removal operation,” McIntyre said. “But it is fairly normal throughout the winter to go back and forth between snow removal and pothole repair.
“We hardly ever stop repairing potholes.”
Contact the writer:
402-444-1545, zack.colman@owh.com
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