Drivers have been lamenting the pothole problem ever since the first ice storm. There was even a fatality from it — a motorcyclist was killed Sunday night after hitting a pothole and then a car.
But the Tennessee Department of Transportation is guessing there actually aren’t any more potholes this winter than in previous years.
“Honestly, even though the public may disagree, this is probably not worse than any other year,” says spokeswoman BJ Doughty. “What has happened is that they’ve all happened at once.”
It was a perfect storm — literally — of freezing cold followed by heavy rains in a short amount of time, she says. This made the potholes more extreme, but not necessarily more prevalent over the course of the entire winter, although TDOT doesn’t keep a count of the number of potholes in the state.
Doughty says drivers on interstates and state highways should notice an improvement by the end of the next week, as long as the weather stays dry after this weekend. Crews from TDOT are already starting to permanently patch potholes this week. They may block some lanes, mostly during midday.
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