OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — The latest warm weather has brought some relief from the bitter cold temps last week, but it also brought along something many Omaha drivers are all too familiar with.
"They are not super cool they don't make me jump up and down. I mean, they do make me jump up and down but not because I like them. It's more involuntary than that," said one Omaha driver.
With the thaw and subsequent freezes, potholes are starting to crop up across the Metro.
One of the main ingredients for a pothole to form is moisture, and city officials say the dry weather we have had this year is actually helping keep the number of potholes down.
"We really haven't had any moisture until this last storm. That was really our first plowable snow. That's what it takes. The last two winters we have had almost no moisture, when you have no moisture there are very few potholes," said Todd Pfitzer, a city engineer with the City of Omaha.
Crews were out on Thursday repairing potholes to help keep Omaha's streets safe and Pfitzer wants to encourage drivers to keep safety in mind when driving past pothole crews.
"Potholes is a very dangerous operation. There is maybe just another vehicle blocking and some flags or air boards depending on the operation. But it is a moving operation and it is dangerous so we are asking people to slow down and pay attention as they go by," said Pfitzer.
Thankfully Pfitzer said his department hasn't struggled with staffing shortages and responding to potholes hasn't been an issue.
He is hoping it stays that way but recognizes that fighting potholes is a year-round job.
"Potholes never stop. We fill them in July like we fill them in January. Almost every crew when we aren't plowing snow this time of year we tend to fill potholes for the most part," said Pfitzer.
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