Mayor Rahm Emanuel is instructing city pothole repair crews to work seven days a week until April to fill the many potholes which have resulted from the recent extreme weather his office announced Friday.

“Mayor Emanuel has directed pothole crews to work nonstop — seven days a week — to

attack potholes resulting from most frigid temperatures Chicago has seen in decades,” says a terse statement from the Mayor’s Office. “Crews will work the seven days a week schedule until April, weather permitting, to fill the holes.”

Pavement potholes are caused when water gets into cracks in the asphalt, freezes and then thaws to weaken and often loosen the roadway.

With weather which included over the past two weeks: two winter storms dropping nearly two feet of snow on the city, followed by record breaking cold temperatures and now unseasonably cold weather and rain, will certainly reap a bumper crop of potholes on Chicago streets.

The mild weather of the past two winters have kept pothole numbers relatively low compared to normal winters.

The Chicago Department of Transportation came under the scrutiny of the Chicago Inspector General’s Office this week when it issued a report saying CDOT was only meeting it’s self-imposed goal of filling pothole requests within seven days only 76% of the time.

According to the Mayor’s Office, Chicago Department of Transportation crews have already filled over 2000 potholes since the recent cold weather.

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