In wake of Southern California’s wet winter, potholes pose a perilous problem

Michael Solorio was driving through Wilmington last week when he was faced with a split-second decision: hit a pothole that suddenly appeared in his path, or swerve out of the way.

“I was driving over the railroad tracks at Wilmington Avenue and Lomita Boulevard and saw (the pothole) at the last second,” Solorio, 27, of Harbor City, said.

“It was either I drive into a fence, into oncoming traffic or just take the hit.”

So he hit the pothole and lived with the consequences: A damaged tire and $250 spent for a replacement.

Like many other Southern California residents, especially in recent weeks as the region got soaked with relentless storms, Solorio is tired of having to zig-zag when driving along local roads.

It seems they are pocked everywhere with potholes.

The problem of potholes, which is certainly nothing new in Southern California, got worse in recent weeks as storms drenched the area and pooling water weakened pavements, ultimately damaging roads. Since December, Southern California has been hit with 12 atmospheric rivers, including the one dumping more rain and snow on the area earlier this week.

The wet weather has meant that Caltrans workers, city workers, contractors and others have responded to calls of potholes and other traffic madness around the clock, officials said.

“Our crews are working very hard, 24/7,” said Michael Comeaux, a spokesman for Caltrans.

While there have been much more severe issues related to the storms — among them, snowed-in residents in the mountains and home-threatening landslides along the coast  — potholes are not simply a nuisance they may seem to be. In fact, they can be dangerous, leaving vehicles with serious damage and cause major traffic delays if they’re big enough.

Potholes were the reason for a full shutdown of the 71 Freeway in Pomona on Wednesday: Early that morning, at least 15 vehicles had their tires blown out by a series of huge potholes near the Valley Boulevard exit. The California Highway Patrol closed both sides of the route from around 4:30 a.m. until noon, and even then work continued on the northbound side of the freeway.

Work along the highway will close parts of the 71 this weekend.

Just the week before, potholes caused flat tires for around 30 vehicles in the same spot on the 71, CHP said.

As a result, the work for Caltrans crews is never ending.

“We’ve been doing a ton of work,” said Samantha Teves, another Caltrans spokeswoman. “Our crews have been working a ton of hours.”

Cars are diverted off the northbound 71 Freeway at Holt Ave. in Pomona as CalTrans workers repair potholes that caused multiple flat tires overnight and forced the closure of the freeway in both directions on Wednesday, March 22, 2023. (Photo by Watchara Phomicinda, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)

Potholes usually occur after heavy rainfall: Sustained downpours lead to water collecting underground, which causes the soil underneath a road to sag. That creates depressions in a roadway that then break apart with the added stress of traffic, Comeaux said.

If the problem is ignored long enough, the water can break up the soil underneath the roads even further. That can lead to sinkholes opening up.

The heavy rains created two massive sinkholes in Los Angeles last week, one that closed the northbound 101 Freeway, near Spring Street, and another in the 1200 block of Elden Avenue in Pico-Union.

The Pico-Union sinkhole measured just three feet across but “probably about 10 feet deep,” said Sgt. Richard Boyd of the Los Angeles Police Department.

In Orange County, a huge sinkhole opened up in a road in Laguna Beach last weekend. That led to evacuations after crews discovered the sinkhole created a gas leak and a water main break spilling several thousand gallons of water onto the roadway below, said South Coast Water District spokesperson Sheena Johnson.

The threat of even more damage is one of the reasons why repair crews have been dispatched so frequently over the rainy season, from last year into 2023.

In just February, the L.A. County Public Works Department received about 270 reports of road hazards — of those, 173 were potholes, said Elizabeth Vazquez, a spokeswoman for the department.

Vasquez said more wet weather could mean the backlog of repair work on just potholes could take until the summer to clear.

In just the last two weeks, Caltrans has repaired 77 potholes on freeways running through Orange County. And there are still many more to be fixed, said Angela Madison, a spokesman for the agency.

“We have had a lot of potholes,” Madison said. “It’s nature and it happens.”

Josh Cain, the Associated Press and City News Service contributed to this report.

Related Articles