How to help fight the pothole problems in Topeka

TOPEKA (KSNT) - Neighborhood potholes giving you grief? Take a deep dive into one of the Capital City's biggest issues and learn what's being done to combat it.

Potholes are an ever-present issue in the City of Topeka that have driven some citizens to become more vocal about the condition of the city's streets recently. The Capital City even made a top 50 list last year from USA Today for cities dealing with the most pothole issues.

While the pothole problems may seem never-ending, city workers are taking an active role in fixing them. Local citizens can join in to help make city streets safer as well using an app dedicated to reporting road issues.

How to report potholes

You can do your part in helping keep the streets in good condition by making reports through the SeeClickFix app or by calling the City of Topeka at 785-368-3111. The SeeClickFix app is available for Android and iPhone users and lets you submit and track issues and access city information.

Infrastructure Communications Specialist Amanda Knowland said the city received a little more than 1,500 pothole reports through the app in 2023. You can learn more about SeeClickFix by clicking here.

Pothole damage compensation

If your vehicle has suffered damage from potholes, you can try to get compensation from the city. Last year, KSNT 27 News spoke with a local woman who claimed a pothole totaled her vehicle. She went to the city in an attempt to get monetary help to fix her vehicle.

You are encouraged to send claims of damage caused by potholes to the Office of the City Clerk. After a 10-14 day waiting period, the city attorney will get in touch with you about the next steps in the process. The city can take up to 120 days to investigate these claims. You can learn more about how to file a claim by clicking here.

Where are all the potholes coming from?

With winter settling in across Kansas, now is the time when potholes start to make their presence known, according to the City of Topeka's website. Repeat snow and ice events can lead to damaged streets city-wide as water freezes and then thaws. This can lead to cracks in the ground expanding, weakening the pavement and leading to the creation of bad road conditions.

"The City of Topeka maintains more than 1500 lane miles of pavement," Knowland said. "The need for pavement repairs including reconstruction and mill and overlay far surpasses our resources. Consequently, Public Works has to select projects based on funding and priorities. When it comes to pothole repair, higher priority is given to arterials and collectors, which carry a higher volume of traffic."

What's being done about all the potholes?

The City of Topeka reported in December 2023 the city repaired more than 32,000 potholes that year. The city recently switched to using a salt brine mixture to treat roads to help cut back on the number of potholes as it requires less road salt on the streets.

"Potholes generally occur in pavement that is beyond its useful life," Knowland said. "The best strategy for cutting down on potholes is to improve the pavement condition index (PCI) of streets. For 2024, we have budgeted $9.8M in the Pavement Management Program for mill and overlay projects and an additional $2.0M in the Street Contract Preventative Maintenance Program for crack sealing and microsurfacing. These programs are part of the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) adopted by the Governing Body."

Repair crews are dispatched to fill in potholes using one of two methods. The first involves the use of cold-mix asphalt when hot-mix asphalt is unavailable. Cold-mix asphalt is dispersed from the back of a work truck and tamped into the ground by hand. This mix is used for temporary fixes only as a stop-gap measure in the winter.

Hot-mix asphalt is reserved for when temperatures are above freezing. This is used to fill in holes permanently and is tamped into the ground using a vibrating plate.

"Pothole repairs essentially take place every day in every area of the city, as needed," Knowland said. "Potholes are reported via SeeClickFix, by staff who spot them while driving, and via phone calls made to the city. Our patch crew responds to fill potholes as reported. In the spring, there are generally more potholes reported than our crews can keep up with. When that happens, repairs are prioritized based on location and size of the pothole."

Besides the city, efforts from some local businesses like 'Bring back the Boulevard' are pushing to fix places on Topeka Boulevard.

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