With the winter weather gone, workers from the city street department now are working to fix many of the problematic potholes.
Andrew Stone, director of Athens street department, said the city fixes potholes on a basis of necessity. With the warmer weather, the city's busy season for filling potholes is from late March to May.
While the street workers try to do repairs year round, fixing the potholes in cold weather is not as effective, Stone said. The workers use two types of concrete mixes - hot mix and cold mix. In the winter, the workers must use the cold mix, which is more malleable but does not bond as well as the hot mix. In the warmer weather, workers use the hot mix, which bonds better to the ground.
Stone said street workers have been busy because of the opening of the plant that makes the hot mix. It closes in the winter because workers cannot use the mix. Employees also are working to repair landslips.
Athens City Council recently passed an ordinance giving $458,000 to street paving and repairs, some of which is designated for potholes. Council members drove around the city looking for areas with potholes so that they would be able to alert the street department of problem areas, said Carol Patterson, D-2nd Ward.
Brian Footer, the city and county affairs commissioner for Student Senate, said he wanted to work with the university's administration and city officials to repair potholes for the safety of residents and students.
One major holdup to repairs is the rain, Stone said. When workers fix the potholes and it rains shortly afterwards, the fill material becomes weak and the mix used to repair that hole can splash out when motorists drive over the newly filled potholes.
Roads and streets where cars are driving at a higher speed, as well as busy streets, are often the areas that need repair most frequently. Some streets under repair are Richland Avenue near Dairy Lane and Columbia Avenue near Highland Street. City workers recently repaired the area on Stewart Street near Washington Hall, he said.
The city repairs potholes on city property, while the university repairs potholes on its own property. The city and the university alert each other about potholes that the other department might not have seen, Stone said.
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Janet Nester
