Pothole - WikiHQ

thumb|300px|Potholes occur with traffic over a roadway that has been weakened by water in the supporting soil structure.

A pothole is a pot-shaped depression in a road surface, usually asphalt pavement, where traffic has removed broken pieces of the pavement. It is usually the result of water in the underlying soil structure and traffic passing over the affected area. Water first weakens the underlying soil; traffic then fatigues and breaks the poorly supported asphalt surface in the affected area. Continued traffic action ejects both asphalt and the underlying soil material to create a hole in the pavement. Eventually, chunks of pavement between the fatigue cracks gradually work loose, and may then be plucked or forced out of the surface by continued wheel loads to create a pothole.

Potholes may result from four main causes:

Sealing asphalt cracks

thumb|Crack sealing machine in Dnipro, Ukraine

A US Air Force manual advocates semiannual inspection of pavement cracks with crack sealing commencing on cracks that exceed

Repair

Pothole patching methods may be either temporary or semi-permanent. Temporary patching is reserved for weather conditions that are not favorable to a more permanent solution and usually uses a cold mix asphalt patching compound placed in an expedient manner to temporarily restore pavement smoothness. Semi-permanent patching uses more care in reconstructing the perimeter of the failed area to blend with the surrounding pavement and usually employs a hot-mix asphalt fill above replacement of appropriate base materials. The FHWA suggests the best patching techniques, at times other than winter, are spray injection, throw-and-roll, semi-permanent, or edge seal procedures. In winter, the throw-and-roll technique may be the only available option. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa offers similar methods for the repair of potholes.

Materials

Asphaltic patch materials consist of a binder and aggregate that come in two broad categories, hot mix and cold mix. Hot mixes are used by some agencies, they are produced at local asphalt plants.

File:Pothole throw-and-roll material placement.png|Throw-and-roll pothole repair procedure—material placement

File:Pothole throw-and roll compaction of patch.png|Throw-and-roll pothole repair procedure—compaction of patch

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Semi-permanent repair

The FHWA manual

Costs to the public

The American Automobile Association estimated in the five years prior to 2016 that 16 million drivers in the United States have suffered damage from potholes to their vehicle including tire punctures, bent wheels, and damaged suspensions with a cost of $3 billion a year. In India, between 2015 and 2017, an average of 3,000 people per year were killed in accidents involving potholes. Britain has estimated that the cost of fixing all roads with potholes in the country would cost £12 billion.

Reporting

Some jurisdictions offer websites or mobile apps for pothole-reporting. These allow citizens to report potholes and other road hazards, optionally including a photograph and GPS coordinates. It is estimated there are 55 million potholes in the United States. The self-proclaimed pothole capital, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada reportedly spends $4.8 million on 450,000 potholes annually, as of 2015.

India has historically lost over 3,000 people per year to accidents caused by potholes.

In the United Kingdom, more than half a million potholes were reported in 2017, an increase of 44% on the 2015 figure. There are processes in place to report potholes at different levels of jurisdiction. The process for claiming compensation varies by jurisdiction.

In popular culture

Potholes have been commented on both in various media.

Visual art

Two artists, Jim Bachor of Chicago and Baadal Nanjundaswamy of Bangalore, India, have used artwork as a commentary on potholes by placing mosaics (depicting ice cream in various manifestations) or sculpture (in the form of a crocodile) in potholes. Elsewhere, activists in Russia used painted caricatures of local officials with their mouths as potholes, to show their anger about the poor state of the roads. In Manchester, England, a graffiti artist painted images of penises around potholes, which often resulted in them being repaired within 48 hours.

Activists in Spain have also got quick fixes with penis graffiti.

Song

The Beatles song "A Day in the Life" references potholes. John Lennon wrote the song's final verse inspired by a Far & Near news brief, in the same 17 January edition of the Daily Mail that had inspired the first two verses. Under the headline "The holes in our roads", the brief stated: "There are 4,000 holes in the road in Blackburn, Lancashire, or one twenty-sixth of a hole per person, according to a council survey. If Blackburn is typical, there are two million holes in Britain's roads and 300,000 in London."

Television

In the Seinfeld episode The Pothole, George discovers that he has lost his keys, including a commemorative Phil Rizzuto keychain that says "Holy Cow" when activated. He then retraces his steps, and returns to a street where he had jumped over a pothole, which is now filled in with asphalt. The "Holy Cow" phrase is heard when a car runs over it.

News

In December 2025, the BBC current affairs programme Panorama broadcast an episode titled "The Pothole Problem", in which reporter Richard Bilton investigated the rising number of potholes across the United Kingdom, the injuries and vehicle damage they cause, and the difficulties local authorities face in keeping up with repairs.

References

External links

Federal Highway Administration Manual of Practice for Pothole Repair