Melissa Bailey Photo
The city has a springtime promise for drivers and bikers jolted by potholes: Let us know, and we’ll roll out the “Wacker” and patch up the road within two weeks.
Mayor John DeStefano and John Prokop, director of the city Department of Public Works, made that pledge Tuesday at a press event marking the opening of spring season for street sweeping and pothole repair. Now that the weather is warm enough, road crews can fill holes with a mix of tar and asphalt called hot patch.
“Spring is cherry blossoms in Wooster Square, daffodils in Edgewood Park and hot patch on city streets,” announced DeStefano, standing at the intersection of Norton Parkway and Crescent Street in Beaver Hills.
Regular street sweeping starts in April. Look for posted parking notices to let you know when to move your car.
The city has received 4,000 pothole complaints since January, according to Prokop. Anyone who notices a pothole on New Haven streets can call the pothole hotline at (203) 946‑7700 or lodge the complaint through SeeClickFix, using the website or a mobile phone app.
The city will fix the road within two weeks of the time it gets the complaint, Prokop pledged.
Jason Padilla, Luis Sanchez, Jr. and David Lawlor (in top photo), public works laborers, demonstrated how they’ll make it happen.
The three-man crew started work at 7 a.m. Tuesday. They picked up their truck and headed to the Tilcon plant in North Branford, where they waited in line to get five tons of hot patch.
They started on a pothole route through Beaver Hills, beginning at Fournier and Crescent.
At 11:02 a.m., they began to tackle a series of cracks and dips at the edge of Crescent and Norton Parkway.
Sanchez and Lawlor grabbed shovels. They scooped the hot patch out of the bed of the truck …
… and spread it onto the offending areas.
Padilla grabbed a rake to even out the mixture. He leveled the mixture and raked in the sides to create crisp edges.
Then came time to fire up the “Wacker.”
That’s the brand name for a popular asphalt plate tamper, which uses a vibrating plate to pack down asphalt. The machine Sanchez used is a Muliquip Mikasa brand. The crew still calls it a “Wacker.”
Sanchez did the honors, firing up the engine with a pull cord.
The machine sprays water onto the asphalt. That keeps it from sticking to the hot metal plate.
Sanchez pounded down the hot patch as Lawlor swept up with a broom.
At the end of one line of former potholes, he pulled a swift 180 and headed back the other way.
In winter, crews can use cold patch to fill hazardous holes, but it’s only a temporary fix, Prokop explained. Cold patch lasts two to three weeks; hot patch can last two to three years if it’s installed correctly.
Installing hot patch the right way requires good weather — at least three warm days of over 40 degrees, without precipitation, Prokop said.
One three-man crew fixes an average of 65 potholes per day, Prokop said. On a good day, three crews can go through 20 tons of hot patch in one day, he estimated.
Last year, after a brutal winter, the city went through 1,220 tons of pothole-filler and fixed 20,000 potholes, Prokop said.
There have been far fewer complaints this year, he said, because of the mild winter.
The city saved a $150,000 due to the lack of snow over the winter, Prokop said. The department plans to use the money to fill more potholes — and pave more roads.
The work crew took a break Tuesday to serve as a backdrop to the mayor’s press conference.
Then they got back to work. Sanchez fired up the Wacker again. Padilla pointed to one last spot he missed.
Padilla picked up the cones that had blocked traffic: Once the hot patch is in place, it’s ready to handle cars.
Then they dragged the machine over to their parks department Ford 3500 pickup truck.
They loaded it onto a hydraulic Eagle Lift, which brought the tool up to the height of the truck bed.
Then they pushed the Wacker into the bed and headed to their next job.
Asked how many potholes they’d fixed so far on Tuesday, the laborers shrugged: They don’t stop to count until the end of the day.