CINCINNATI — It's pothole season once again. While Cincinnatians may be used to driving during this cursed time year after year, many may also have laid to rest a good tire or two as the craters open and reopen again.
While the City of Cincinnati has filled 1,704 potholes so far this year, there are still 1,190 active requests, though some of those are duplicate reports and the city did not release how many unique pothole requests remain unfilled.
City data shows Westwood has the most complaints for potholes filed, followed by Oakley and West Price Hill.
Along River Road, Aron Back, who lives in Miami Township, lost two tires to two separate potholes along the stretch of roadway.
"It was dark and I hit, boom, and it was hard and my car shifted and my lights came on in the car saying 'low tire, low tire,'" said Back. "I pull into UDF and get out and my tire was completely gone."
That tire was lost on Wednesday, Feb. 16 and by the following Monday Back's car was down a tire once more.
"I hit another, different pothole by Jim and Jacks," she said. "It was the new tire, so now I have the spare again on my vehicle."
This time the impact took the rim too, causing a huge dent.
Rain washing over the Tri-State over the span of a week have helped set up the pavement on roads to fail ahead of cold snaps. The freezing and thawing roads crack and more potholes open up. Some re-open repeatedly in high traffic areas like River Road. Back said until the road is fixed, she's finding a new route to work each day.
"I will not go River Road until they actually repave the entire thing," she said. "There are so many cars that I have seen that were pulled over."
Residents living in the city of Cincinnati can report potholes by calling 513.591.6000 or through the city's mobile app.
Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval and John Curp, interim city manager, plan to have a press conference on Wednesday to address potholes opening up throughout the city.
