RICHMOND, Va. -- With winter in the rear-view mirror, Richmond residents are calling on the City of Richmond to fill potholes to lessen their burden.
Ladawn Friend says the potholes are hitting a lot of residents in their pockets, herself included.
“My other vehicle has low profile tires. So, it can be quite expensive,” said Friend. “We have to replace the rim. The rim gets bent and the tire goes bad and those are not cheap at all.”
Katie Rolander says she’s had the similar issues.
“I've hit them many times and they are really messing my car up,” said Rolander.
Now that the weather is warming up, drivers say they hope to see more city crews filling the troublesome potholes.
“I would definitely like to see them repave roads or something. I feel like the winter caused it to be more hazardous and hurtful to people's vehicles," added Rolander.
Every year Richmond city crews repair 22,000 potholes. Last year they fixed 25,000, according to city officials.
The roadway maintenance division covers more than 1800 miles of roads.
Councilman Parker Agelesto (5th district) has submitted a $7.5 million budget proposal to address pothole repaving and repairs across the city, but the entire council wasn't on board.
Councilman Mike Jones (9th district) says he knows it's a frustrating issue. But says they must put together a comprehensive plan that council can help fund, something that's equitable for all districts.
This year officials say they've purchased two more pothole patching machines to help them be more efficient.
The machines that can be run by one person who can fill up to 50 potholes per day.
Right now, crews are about a month into the permanent repair work season and have filled nearly 8,000 potholes since January.
Drivers say they just want to see more progress to help lessen their frustration on the roads.
“We live in such a beautiful city. It's a shame they are not allocating more funds to fix them. So, please fix them,” Friend said.
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