CLEVELAND — The warmer weather has allowed for crews to go out to fix potholes.

Asphalt plants are still closed and won’t open until later spring, but Frank Williams, the director of public works for Cleveland, explained what the city is doing to temporarily fix the potholes.

“In the winter months, we recycle asphalt and that’s what you see today. The crews are using hot recycled asphalt,” he said.

Recycled asphalt can be tricky. Williams said that crews identify areas that have numerous potholes to make the process easier.

“One of the things is that when we’re recycling asphalt, we have to keep the material warm so we want to make sure that we have holes lined up for us to be able to be efficient to get through an area,” he said. 

AAA said that the average cost of repairing pothole damage to a car is around $600. Hitting a pothole could damage your tires, wheels, suspension and alignment. Williams said weather is one of the biggest reasons for pothole creation and that with Ohio’s winter this year, it will make street repair more difficult.

“When we get rain, a lot of precipitation at the same time it causes those potholes to form, and it becomes difficult to try and keep up with them as the weather changes as much as it has this season,” he said.

Williams said this year they have already put out 320 tons of patching material and that they use every opportunity to try to make the roads as safe as possible.

If your car is damaged from a pothole, the city of Cleveland said to contact the Law Claims Department.