INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana’s weather roller coaster is forcing the same crews that fill potholes to also salt the roads.
Ben Easley, spokesperson for the Indianapolis Department of Public Works, says the job crews perform depends on what the weather is doing.
“Every opportunity we have, where weather is dry, we’ll go out and do pothole filling and strip patching,” Easley said. “When the weather turns more wintery, that’s when we get in the plow trucks and either salt or plow snow off the roadways.”
On Monday, DPW unveiled its hot mix asphalt, which does a better job at patching up potholes than the cold mix the city has been using recently.
Rain doused DPW’s efforts to use hot mix on Tuesday.
“We were able to do some pothole filling today [Wednesday] and we also had a couple contractors out doing strip patching as well,” Easley said.
Strip patching involves repaving entire travel lanes using hot mix asphalt. Workers were able to do some strip patching on Meridian and 54th Streets and Prospect Street from Keystone Avenue to Southeast Avenue.
“It really is reserved for those areas that are so deteriorated that you don’t even know what’s road and pothole anymore,” Easley said.
Hot asphalt only works in warm, dry weather, so don’t expect to see DPW workers using that to patch potholes any time soon.
Right now, workers are focused on winter weather, according to Easley.
“Even if you don’t see puffy white snow accumulated on the roadways, Indy DPW is still out ahead of ice or freezing rain, treating [the roads],” Easley said.
