The section was at its worst in March, leading the City of Omaha to shut it down to rebuild the street, to the relief of neighbors. - Pothole complaints: 2.5 for every 1,000 km of road. If your car only suffered some minor dings and scratches (if that), you are definitely better off skipping any official claim process altogetherits just not worth the time and energy. Rather, he was referring to the banana tree he planted inside one pothole outside his business. Since Jan. 1, the city has received 2,393 claims. Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook. We dont' necessarily put out all the reasons as far as on the reasons we denied the claim. The City of Omaha does honor pothole damage claims -- the process, though, can be confusing. Thornton Expressway near Dallas. Interstate 40 runs through Oklahoma, which has been cited as one of the 10 most hazardous roads in the United States. (WOWT) - A flat tire, a bent wheel -- damage from a pothole isnt something you want to deal with. The New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) is among the few road and bridge agencies that must maintain what is largely a rural road network. The long-term solution, really its re-paving, thats ultimately the long-term solution.. This is typically left up to the discretion of the judge, who will often side with the city if the claim is made by a civilian. The Daily Record When I drive, all I do is look for potholes, she said. Despite the occasional social media rant, Wyoming drivers are generally happy with the state of their road system. BIG thank you to our reporters, producers, professors, and viewers for making the newscasts this semester possible! Last week right before the snow actually, I hit a pothole and it bent my rim, I had to replace the rim and also get another tire, Richardson adds. After her SUV was damaged, her husband blew a tire on his car at a pothole near Skutt Catholic High School, Levering said. 17 days later, Suann Witt hit a pothole 100 feet down the road from there. Champion said it is definitely pothole season. Allstate. Damage to the vehicles tires, hubcaps, struts, and alignment can quickly add up, leaving some drivers with repairs costing up to a thousand dollars or more. Phone: 402-444-1128. After receiving a claim, the office will investigate and may try to reach a settlement with the driver based on the results. There is a list of rules that determine the criteria for City of Toronto pothole claims. It's easier to file damage claims in some states than in others. Northern Indiana roads regularly suffer both hard winters and persistent freight traffic between Chicago and Detroit, which combine to make for a perfect environment for potholes. On top of that, 28 more claims from this year were pending. Mayor Stothert says the potholes must be inside the city's boundaries and the city will not pay for potholes that lie on highways in Omaha such as I-80, I-480 or I-680. Several communities, however, have been looking for alternatives to using saltin the hopes that they might see environmental improvementsnot to mention fewer potholes. OMAHA, (NEB.) The incident had to occur between January 1st and March 18th. 21 of those claims were paid at a cost of $8,205.94. USA TODAY reached out to users who shared the claim for comment. 8News found a little-known pothole policy that can make getting your money back a long shot. After he pulled into a nearby parking lot, he could see two blown passenger-side tires. The tally continued to fall in 2019 to 16,520 and again in 2020 with 12,500. Keep reading to see how states stack up according to the complaints of their own drivers. While this is a staggering figure, it doesnt really punch its weight in terms of how degraded roadways affect the average person. For the first half of 2019 the city listed the reasonable amount of time statute in more than 80 percent of its pothole claim denial letters. Eyewitnesses can help bolster your case. Another shut down the R.L. The city said that report didnt count, because the caller who reported the pothole said it was in the eastbound lane and Petersons incident happened in the westbound lane. State maintenance crews have developed a fill em and forget em strategy by using cold-mix asphaltasphalt you can mix in an ordinary plastic bucketto plug the holes. Still, since 2018, the South Carolina Department of Transportation has gotten some 4,000 road projects going, so perhaps the pothole pit may soon be shallower than feared. we found out 166 people filed claims with the city for pothole damage last year and 116 so far this year. City Councilman Vinny Palermo, a former city public works employee who represents South Omaha, said he thought the city became liable if it didnt fix a pothole after a certain number of days. When it comes to driving, Hawaii is less than paradise. Claims have also been denied if the pothole had not been reported to the city previously or if the person filing the claim was not the owner of the vehicle. Whether you are filing a claim with your insurance or the government, three things are essential: Documentation, documentation, documentation! 59 claims have already been filed during the two and a half month period to the mayor's office. People have submitted more than 600 claims for payment of pothole damage costs to the city since Monday afternoon, Mayor Jean Stothert says. In Atlanta, there is. But seriously.. - Pothole complaints: 0.8 for every 1,000 km of road. Did you guys know if you hit a pothole and it caused damage to your vehicle, you can go down to city hall and file a complaint and show them the damages of your vehicle and they will pay to fix your vehicle since its a city issue! An April 2021 customer satisfaction survey by the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) showed that more than two-thirds of residents feel WYDOT is doing a good job handling potholes and other lousy road conditions. United States, Ruthless - A Conservative News Commentary. Sometimes, the damage sustained is a lower dollar amount than your deductible, which would make filing a claim irrelevant. If the citys small claims team approves the application, the driver may be compensated for half of the cost of repairs. People may remember Jim Champion, known around Omaha as The Auto Guy from WOWT a few years ago. But in 2021, I reported two potholes on a road that had been repaved in the previous year. OMAHA, Neb. Maintain over 3,592 miles of roadways within the city limits. We made a good-faith decision to help citizens pay for damages and I believe we have achieved our goal.. A stretch of 84th Street between Parkview Boulevard and Brentwood Drive drew a La Vista city crew for patching. While the management team is still working to drive process changes and refinements, the changes made to date are note-worthy. restrictions, which you can review below. The northern portion of the state, in particular, sees winter storms on par with those that impact portions of neighboring Utah and Colorado, but southern Arizona is not immune from the same weather events either. By going back in time on omahahotline.com and back through a rough period of winter The World-Herald last week found pothole reports dating to Valentines Day still listed as In Progress.. According to data 6 News requested from Mayor Jean Stotherts office, people submitted nearly 275 pothole damage claims over the past three years. This Midwest flyover state has the advantage of a population spread out across it with metropolitan areas of no more than 400,000 denizens each. Repair requests can also be made through the mayors hotline. The Official Twitter of The Omaha News. She damaged her car on 144th Street in Millard before the city closed down the particularly rough patch because the damage was so extensive. We are the award-winning television station at the University of Nebraska Omaha. You may also like: Best-run cities in America. Most major cities have a dedicated line for dealing with such complaints, but for small cities, perhaps just going to City Hall will fix the problem. Boston is among the cities with the most pothole complaints, with an average of 303 anger-venting tweets per 1,000 km of road. A Jan. 9 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claimslocal governments will fully reimburse drivers affected by a costly road hazard. A truck hits a pothole on northbound 144th Street just north of U Street. The City of Boston has roughly 7,500 open pothole claims through its 311 website. The bond project will take 20 years to complete. One recent example was in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, when a Culligan water delivery truck found itself suspended in a 4-foot by 2-foot hole that required the assistance of a tow truck. Here are some of the worst pothole locations, based on drivers complaints to the City of Omahas online hotline or as witnessed by others. Rev. If a pothole damaged your car on an Omaha city street, the mayor said she would pay for it, if it met some basic requirements. storytelling. On state highways, you can report potholes and file a claim . One reason is that so many local state communitiesamong them Great Falls, Missoula, Bozeman, and Butte-Silver Bowhave established pothole reporting programs to get the pesky tire-hitters filled in almost as quickly as they form. In one case, a local resident could sit right along one pothole edge like he was dangling his legs in a pool. The state is prone to extreme weather events, which means a lot of snow plow vehicles and salt usage, both of which are pothole contributors. By Friday, Stothert said the city had nearly 750 work orders ready. Not that folks plan to listen: a GoFundMe called Vallejo PotholeGate has already raised a few thousand bucks to keep the movement going. All rights reserved. On Jan. 20, 2022, six city trade unions authorized a strike after contract negotiations with the city stalled. Starting today the city had 34 crews on the streets using 300-degree asphalt to hot-patch the streets. "They are worse than any that I've seen since I was in Omaha or for a lot of people that have lived here there whole lives," said Mayor Stothert. Crews will be, Council members had already heard about street problems before the weather finally warmed enough to let Public Works road crews get to work pa. One out of every five roads in New Hampshire is in poor condition. In the vast majority of cases, being startled is the only damage you will incur if you go over a pothole. Should I Use Insurance To Fix My Windshield? Despite over $1 billion in annual federal funding from the recently expired FAST Act, in addition to one of the highest state-level gas taxes in the country, the state still struggles with road upkeep. Here are some of his cartoons from over the years. West Virginia is known for three things: coal, lumber and wood, and primary metals. They are unsightly. In one Yukon suburb, an anonymous citizen made clear how he thinks potholes are affecting his community. Asked whats a reasonable time to fill a pothole, Gray said he didnt know given the challenging set of circumstances this year. In doing so, youre agreeing to the below guidelines. You may also like: I Have a Dream and the rest of the greatest speeches of the 20th century. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. With Omaha streets pocked with potholes, pointedquestionsaboutthe city's spending priorities are showing up on Mayor Jean Stothert's Facebo. - Pothole complaints: 5.4 for every 1,000 km of road. Monitor 794 signalized intersections. You may also like: Major newspaper headlines from the year you were born. First, snow and ice melt and seep into the pavement. An investigation will be conducted once your claim is filed. The state is certainly aware of this factdrivers can apply for reimbursement for repairs needed to their vehicles as a result of a run-in with a pothole. Claim for $314.54: Rejected. The deadline to file is March 18. We would like to show you a description here but the site won't allow us. To publish, simply grab the HTML code or text to the left and paste into When it gets cold at night, the roads crack, resulting in a small or large pothole, he said. You may also like: Defining historical moments from the year you were born, - Pothole complaints: 11.4 for every 1,000 km of road. OMAHA, Neb. The remaining claims are being processed. In 2018, that number decreased to 18,200. 2023 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. Drivers are asked to contact the mayors hotline by emailing hotline@CityofOmaha.org to file a tire claim. Another flyover and freight-haul state, Nebraska is also the site of more than 8,000 oil and gas wells, mostly in the southwest and west portions of the state. Stacker distribution partners receive a license to all Stacker stories, - Pothole complaints: 4.6 for every 1,000 km of road. Follow this link to call it in and get the name of the representative that assists you. Like other flyover states, Kansas is also a freight-through state, meaning heavy truck and haul traffic still creates its fair share of potholes. - Pothole complaints: 5 for every 1,000 km of road. To have a claim successfully paid, the city says it must also have had what they call a quote reasonable time to make the repair. While the odds are low to get pothole damage paid by the city, the more reports of potholes, the higher the chance itll get fixed. Whether you are filing a claim with your insurance or the government, three things are essential: Documentation, documentation, documentation! Echoing guidance from the insurance agencys website, Paul said drivers should file a claim as soon as possible after an incident because of the time limitations for doing so in some areas. According to research going back to 2004, Michigan is in the top three states with the highest number of pothole complaints. If you happen to hit debris or a pothole and damage your . But Mayor Stothert temporarily changed that approach in this season's historically ba, Is a street project annoying you? Stacker believes in making the worlds data more accessible through Potholes are actually caused, for the most part, by the conflation of water absorption, freeze-thaw cycles, heat, and good old wear and tear, which makes every city, county, and state in America ripe for their development. republish under a Creative Commons License, and we encourage you to Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. The public can assist in road repairs by reporting potholes here, . The damage comes a few hundred to a few thousand dollars at a time occasionally more than $3,000 a pop. 4. He also asks for a little patience from the community. Follow him on Twitter @jeffreyrobb. 14 talking about this. A pothole was reported at the same intersection Paige Peterson hit her pothole nearly two weeks prior. You may also like: Most and least popular governors in America, - Pothole complaints: 5.9 for every 1,000 km of road. Last week was a rough week for repairing potholes with a run of cold, rainy weather. The Nebraska Department of Transportation has a maintenance force in excess of 600 people statewide dedicated to patching potholes on intersta, Heated asphalt patches that stay in place better than most winter patch jobs are coming sooner than typically happens, she said. There are a few guidelines and The Balance uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. First, determine whether the road is a city, county, or state road. Since potholes largely plague asphalt roadswhich Iowa has a sizable number ofthe Iowa Department of Transportation has begun investing in research on the potential of recycled plastics to prolong the lifespan and overall durability of its asphalt roadways. Those, coupled with very hot summers, together collude to make a punishing environment for the states asphalt roads. The claims seem to fluctuate annually with the weather and the pothole crop, as few as 42 in 2017, as high as 168 in 2015. Shit is ridiculous. Claims are governed by the Tennessee Governmental Tort Liability Act (GTLA). A pothole damage claim is a single-car accident, which is filed as an at-fault accident by your insurance carrier. "We don't cause the potholes," Mayor Stothert said. ", New York State Department of Transportation. In addition to denying 499 claims from 2014 through 2018, the city has rejected another 10 claims in 2019. Rhode Island has a lot to recommend it, but when it comes to potholes, the smallest geographic state takes the bituminous taco. (KMTV) Mayor Jean Stothert announced Monday afternoon the city of Omaha will be paying for pothole claims on vehicles made against the city between January 1 and March 18 of 2019. Folks in Mississippi are generally willing to give it to you straight, and when it comes to potholes they see no reason to avoid their dislike. These may include a bulging or flat tire, bent rims, issues driving straight, a low vehicle front end, shaking or rumbling while driving, fluid leakage, or strange noises from the exhaust. 1. Keep up 50 miles of unimproved drainage channel. The city won't pay up. More:North Carolina substations attack a 'wake-up call' in latest nationwide infrastructure threat. However, if the pothole is particularly deep or if youre going too fast, you might be left with some dents and scratches on your vehicleor worse. 2) Click on the green "Start a New Report" button at the bottom of the screen. But Palermo said he wants to look at the situation. For now, Mergens said she focuses less on other traffic and more on the road conditions. File a police report. The Oklahoma communities of Yukon and Piedmont have been up in arms about potholes for some time. Many states require you to provide proof that the road commission knew of the pothole for 30 days or more and did nothing to repair it. Spring is pothole repair season in much of Iowa, and the state has established a fairly robust maintenance program in this regard. Take a photo of the pothole at the time of the incident. I had to buy a brand new tire, an Omaha woman wrote after hitting a pothole at 99th Street and Military Road. 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If this happens while you are driving in Toronto, there is a process where you can submit a claim for damages within 10 days of the date of the incident. Kathy Hochul has declared war on potholes, as a means of trying to reach New Yorkers where they are hurting, promising to devote $1 billion to the problem. In 2022, the era of social media, a little bit of Facebook or Twitter lobbying never hurt anyone. If a pothole damaged your car on an Omaha city street, the mayor said she would pay for it, if it met some basic requirements. This fact has made it easier for NMDOT to keep its citizens apprised of road construction projects as well as hazard zones on its roadways. The city wont pay you if it didnt know about the crater. Randy Seffron, behind and John Helwig with the City of La Vista, drop hot asphalt into potholes on 84th St. A wheel cover near 84th Street between Parkview Boulevard and Brentwood Drive in La Vista. Vancouver can't fix what it doesn't know is broken. The City of Omaha has returned to its long-standing damage claims policy for vehicle damaged caused by potholes. Its kind of amazing that Arkansas should have such a relatively low number of complaints given the numbers coming out of neighboring Louisiana and Missouri, but natural staters seem capable of keeping their thumbs off the Twitter switch when it comes to complaining about potholes. In other areas, drivers have reported potholes the size of swimming pools. Everythings bigger in Texas, as the saying goesand, of course, you know what that means. Pothole damage to your vehicle can easily be extended. What is certain is that Nevada drivers are fed up with potholes and the state of roadways that make their fillings rattle. The more permanent fix, Rowser adds, isnt quick. OMAHA, Neb. A relatively low state gas tax means less money for maintenance and repair. Of those, only seven resulted in a payout from the city. As of May 24, more than half have been reviewed and assigned claim numbers, 104 offers of payment have been made for a total of $31,650.33 and $21,620.91 has been paid. A coming project concerning you? Some are small but others are filled with water, disguising the pothole within. We couldn't have done it without any of you! Note the date and time of the accident. Report the pothole to the City of San Diego. But after years of never approving a pothole claim, the mayor announced the city would start paying for some of the damages caused by potholes. When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. After receiving those complaints, Sherrets said the city has a duty to fix a pothole. Were fighting against the elements right now, the weather causes the potholes and this time of year the weather prevents us from being able to fix them the best we can.. - Pothole complaints: 6.5 for every 1,000 km of road. Not a single pothole damage claim has been paid out in recent years, public records provided to The World-Herald show. Make sure to get a copy of the report to submit with your claim. Pothole Repair. Stothert said city crews have been chasing their tails in extraordinary winter conditions to keep up with filling potholes, as the weather often washes out their work. We never said we were going to pay every claim. More than a quarter of all 1,811 claims filed against the city in the last five years were for pothole damage. We are spending taxpayer dollars, and we must be sure we are paying for damage that can be directly attributed to pothole damage, Stothert said. WRIC-TV, July 20, 2021, Richmond's little-known pothole claims policy makes getting damages covered difficult KMTV, Aug. 13, 2019, Most Common Reason City of Omaha is Denying Pothole Claims The city paid out on 56 such claims, for a total of $24,366, in the fiscal year ending June 30. In many areas, the common commute has become a kind of slalom as drivers try to avoid potholes. With traffic deaths in the city the highest theyve been in three decades, the ongoing strikes impact on pothole filling may only intensify an already dangerous situation. Drivers should instead contact their insurance company. Plattsmouth breaks ground on new wastewater treatment facility. Amazon.Com, Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) is halting construction on its second headquarters near Washington. Each of these industries creates a lot of heavy truck trafficand you know what that means. But It Probably Wont, subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy, Julien Devereux, Jan. 19, Email exchange with USA TODAY, Chloe Chik, Jan. 17, Email exchange with USA TODAY. You need this to be able to make your pothole claim from the local authority. We all know the sound. A Papillion woman drove down 90th Street between Pacific Street and West Center Road and hit a huge chuck hole I couldnt miss. She wrote that she lived on Social Security and didnt have cash to fix her car. Northbound traffic lanes will be closed between Millard Avenue and Q Street, and southbound lanes between Q and U Streets. The city has denied 156 claims, for reasons including the pothole was not within the Omaha city limits, was located in a private . Nevada is in line to receive $4 billion in infrastructure funding over the next five years, though exactly how much of that will go to roads is yet uncertain. Denver7 filed an open records request for claims of pothole damage filed against the City of Denver in spring 2021. Copyright 2023 WOWT. share our stories with your audience. Shes also considering filing a claim with the city but wasnt sure how. The claim had to have been filed no later than March 18th. I think its just an excuse and I dont really trust anything theyre saying, said Peterson. Hitting a pothole is considered a collision. 2021, attack on the Capitol disclosed that many of Trump's top . "Does Car Insurance Cover Pothole Damage? He felt his car driving differently. Vermont is another smaller state geographically with a big pothole problem. Omaha drivers have seen it all. That was the argument the city successfully used to avoid paying a driver thousands of dollars worth of pothole damage inflicted on his vehicle . Not to be confused with the ecological benefits of prairie potholes, road deterioration is only slightly more of an issue in Montana than in some of the other Western states. Potholes and uneven pavement. Rich Crall was driving his Nissan Altima . For some claims, the GTLA requires that the City has prior notice of the condition, such as pothole claims and sewer backups. When it comes to potholes, Idaho has the advantage of a low population density. - Pothole complaints: 0.6 for every 1,000 km of road. And that means, in Omaha, there are plenty of opportunities to illustrate our city's biggest nemesis to drivers: potholes. your CMS. Since this city is a major tourist destination, particularly for hikers and naturalists, one may assume a good portion of the complaints are coming from out-of-staters. State and local governments are responsible for road maintenance and can set their own policies for if and how they reimburse drivers for pothole damage. #TheOmahaNews #ThePeopleAreTheStory - Pothole complaints: 15.5 for every 1,000 km of road. About. Copyright 2023 WOWT. You may also like: A timeline of WWII, the most devastating conflict in history, - Pothole complaints: 2.3 for every 1,000 km of road. Its very frustrating, like really frustrating.. After emailing the city our findings, 3 News Now asked how the city could deny someone who appeared to meet all the requirements. You may also like: Oldest cities in America, - Pothole complaints: 2.8 for every 1,000 km of road. "8 Signs of Pothole Damage.". Thats where the Street Preservation Bond comes into play. The comments informed others where major potholes were located. State officials hope that if drivers know in advance what projects are on tap, theyll be able to find new routes. distribution partner, email us at What are we doing wrong with our streets, highways and trails? Watch out for those tire-blowing, rod-bending craters, Omaha hired private contractors to help fill potholes. as well as image rights, data visualizations, forward planning tools, A City of La Vista crew works to patch a stretch of 84th Street between Parkview Boulevard and Brentwood Drive. When it comes to the daily reality of driving on the nations roadways, statistics are one thing, but actually putting up with the sheer amount of cracks, delaminations, and potholes is something you can only truly measure by feedback from your fellow drivers. (KMTV) Mayor Jean Stothert announced Monday afternoon the city of Omaha will be paying for pothole claims on vehicles made against the city between January 1 and March 18 of 2019. When a pothole complaint is made, Rowsers team typically fills it within five to seven days, but they prioritize major roads and intersections, or potholes that are extremely large or damaging. They are hard to drive around. at 23 on the city list. To see the location of pothole complaints . Manage 12,580 traffic signals. - Pothole complaints: 2.7 for every 1,000 km of road. State liability law seems to be on the citys side protecting the city unless it failed to fix a pothole in an undefined reasonable amount of time after it received proper notice. The compensation model is based on the idea that the responsibility for the incident lies partly with the road conditions and partly with the drivers ability to avoid the hazard, said Anne Emerson, chief of staff to the Chicago City Council's Committee on Finance. Of course, it can be a lengthy process, so be prepared to pay the cost up front. The results of that investigation will determine the outcome and resolution of your claim. Its the freeze and thaw cycle. 2. In all, 34 crews will be on pothole duty starting Monday, Stothert said. Like New Mexico, South Dakotas Department of Transportation sustains a website for up-to-date road conditions and construction information.