CHICAGO — Mayor Rahm Emanuel ordered city crews to begin filling potholes all week long.
With the beginning of the weekend shifts, city crews will now work every day through April to fix potholes throughout the city — weather permitting — Emanuel said.
"All city departments are working to ensure our roadways are safe, and this includes repairing the many potholes that formed as a result of the 23 inches of snow we've had this year and the bitter cold temperatures earlier this week," Emanuel said in a press release.
Friday, the Chicago Department of Transportation deployed 22 crews on to the street, including three that will work over the weekend and an overnight crew. Weekend crews will work 10-hour shifts Friday through Monday without additional overtime cost, Emanuel said.
The announcement comes after a week of brutal winter weather and the release of a report from the city's inspector general that concluded that, between 2010 and 2012, the city's Department of Transportation has failed to fix a quarter of potholes within a week of them being reported.
The report, released Monday and found on the website of Inspector General Joseph Ferguson, determined that for the three years from 2010 through 2012, the city did not repair potholes reported to 311 within seven days 26 percent of the time, and did not repair reported streetlight outages within four days 24 percent of the time.
So far in 2014, crews have filled more than 15,000 potholes using 330 tons of patching material. Since the cold spell that saw temperatures drop as low as 16 below zero degrees earlier this week, city crews have filled in more than 2,000 potholes, according to the mayor's office.
"City workers have done a tremendous job plowing and salting streets and making potholes repairs in all neighborhoods to keep Chicago moving," Emanuel said.
CDOT crews fixed 625,000 potholes in 2013, according the mayor's office.
Drivers whose cars are damaged by potholes on city streets can file a claim for reimbursement from the city using a form found on the city clerk's website.
