Pothole problems increase in San Diego from recent storms
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — The recent rain has left potholes all over San Diego. Auto repair shops are busy and drivers are complaining to FOX 5/KUSI.
The city said they will get to full pothole repairing once the rain subsides and conditions dry out because they are currently in storm mode. However, many people said the potholes have needed repairing for a while, and the recent rain is making the wait worse.
“The potholes do a lot of damage, they do a lot of damage,” said Joseph DiMaio, the office manager at FTC Auto Repair shop in Kearny Mesa.
FTC Auto Repair’s workload has doubled for alignments, wheels and tires. DiMaio said the damage is immediately visible.
“You see how there is no tread here and there is tread here. When you hit a pothole or two or three or ten, the car becomes out of alignment and then it wears the tire off bad,” DiMaio explained while looking at a damaged tire.
The business is off of Dagget St. in Kearny Mesa. The street is riddled with potholes, which DiMaio said has only gotten worse over the years. DiMaio is now questioning his tax dollars at use.
“And our road repairs aren’t getting done. I don’t mind paying the extra tax, I really don’t, I would just like our roads to get fixed,” DiMaio said.
“All I hear is this build back better and money going to the roads and money going to the city to build it, and we haven’t seen it here and we’ve been doing this for over a year now, we’ve been sending messages and nothings been happening,” explained Doug Vick, who has tried to get the city to respond to pothole requests.
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Vick has worked off Dagget St. for 35 years and agrees with the road’s diminishing condition.
“We have to swerve in and out of the road over here, I see other cars swerving back and forth,” Vick explained.
The FOX 5 news truck drove up and down on Dagget St. The equipment rattled loudly with each pothole hit. On the street, FOX 5 observed that there was also very little room to avoid the potholes.
The city said they are in storm mode, which leaves only a few crews to patch up large potholes.
In a statement the City of San Diego said:
With City forces in full storm patrol mode and current storm conditions prohibiting the execution of our pothole patching program in full, street crews will continue to cold-patch large potholes as they are encountered during the course of responding to storm-related reports. As conditions start to improve and dry out, the Transportation Department will evaluate the number and location of pothole reports and begin the prioritization process and patching program to ensure safe, drivable streets. The Transportation Department closely monitors the pothole cases and will fully deploy field crews to address the expected growing needs due to the rainy conditions over the past several weeks.
Meanwhile from Point Loma to Mission Valley to Pacific Beach to Clairemont, FOX 5 saw plenty of potholes that need to be filled.
“We just want somebody to come out and lay it, get it all nice and clean. It’s been over a year, it’s been like that,” Vick said.
Some tips for drivers: leave distance between you and the driver ahead so you are able to see the potholes. Additionally, don’t drive faster than the speed limit, because the damage is less on lower speeds.
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