Pothole repairs remain low throughout Twin Cities after warm winter

RICHFIELD, Minn. (FOX 9) - At Richfield Public Works, they usually wait for word that the St. Paul asphalt plant is opening, so they can be there on day one, getting a truckload of hot-mix to begin pothole repair.

"That’s the one email and call we wait for every spring," says Chris Link, Richfield Deputy Public Works Director. "Once we get that email or phone call that the plant opens, it’s the trigger to get the truck ready that day and get out and start patching potholes."

This year, they haven’t had to go to the plant even once. It hasn’t even crossed their minds.

"Very weird, very weird," he says. "So weird, that we don’t even have our hot box on our asphalt truck yet."

After an abnormally warm and nearly snowless winter, we’re now in a strangely nearly pothole-free spring.

"Generally, we’ll get emails, phone calls reporting potholes right away," Link said. "And we may have had one."

Even more telling is that every year Richfield has streets so torn up by winter that they need ground up and repaved, called a mill and overlay.

"I’ve worked for the City of Richfield for 25 years, and we’ve had a mill and overlay project every year."

Not this year. The annual Minnesota springtime headaches are few and far between.

The St. Paul asphalt plant opened on March 4, and usually they see trucks from cities across the metro lined up around the block. But after two full weeks, the lines just haven’t been there. In 30 minutes on Friday, FOX 9 saw only two pull through and fill up with hot-mix.

For St. Paul, the relatively good condition of main roads means they’re turning their attention to the city's 330 miles of alleyways. Usually, they only have time to tackle the worst spots. This year, they have time to methodically go through all 2,200 alleys in their city to repair all of them.

Be patient, though, as it will take time to get through them all, even though officials say they will.

For Richfield, they’re using the extra time to tackle a different problem: removing hundreds of Ash trees infested with the Emerald Ash Borer.

They are leaving the plow blades on their trucks, for now, because it is still March. But those trucks have barely moved this winter.

"We’ve only plowed the city one time," Link said. "We’ve only used roughly 150 tons of salt. Generally, we use between 700 and 800 tons."

They’ve saved money on fuel and overtime, and they’ll save money on salt for next winter, with so much left over.

"Our order for next season is definitely going to be a lot smaller," Link said.