Road budgets stretched thin after record rain Central California

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- One of the lasting impacts of back-to-back storms is the potholes out on our roads. Fresno and Clovis have seen a significant increase in repair requests, but say resources are spread thin.

Record rainfall has kept Fresno street crews chasing calls for repairs for months.

"Some of the highest demand for pothole repair that we have ever seen," said Fresno Assistant Director of Public Works Brian Russell. "Matter of fact we have had over 3,600 calls for pothole repair since January 1."

That's triple the amount of service requests the Public Works Department normally receives. Even with unprecedented weather, the funding to make those fixes has stayed the same. The city is working with $12 million to keep roads in a good enough condition that would prevent potholes from forming in the first place.

"Really to have our roads in good condition, we would need to spend about 60 million," said Russell. "So we are struggling just to keep our roads in the condition they are in."

The city of Clovis is dealing with more demand for repairs than ever before. This January, a 600% increase in requests compared to last January. Other public works projects will have to take a backseat so the department can make the most of the $80,000 road repair budget. Some repairs will have to be semi-permanent.

"In the wet weather, we do use a winter-blend asphalt patching material that is suitable and definitely works even in rain or a puddle," said Arthur Negrete, Clovis Streets Manager. "Where a permanent repair would require us to pull it out. grind it out, clean it out, dry it, or apply dry material and then make a permanent asphalt repair."

Officials with both Fresno and Clovis say the best ways to get crews to trouble spots are through the Go Clovis and FresGo apps.

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