The problem with potholes: Utahn’s anguish and UDOT’s effort
Jun 8, 2023, 9:00 PM
FILE: UDOT crews fill potholes on 9400 South in Sandy Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2015. UDOT construction closures. (Jeffrey D. Allred/Deseret News)
(Jeffrey D. Allred/Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — To drive anywhere around the state, chances are you will encounter some potholes.
Potholes can be one of a driver’s biggest annoyances. Joining Dave Noriega and Debbie Dujanovic, hosts of Dave and Dujanovic, to attest to this is KSL NewsRadio’s Caitlin Johnston.
“One of the biggest complaints that we’ve had in our newsroom (about potholes) has come to us courtesy of our very own producer, Caitlin Johnston,” Dujanovic says. “Who launched her car and through a couple of potholes a couple of weeks ago, we haven’t heard the end of it.”
Johnston recalls the situation, ironically saying it was “traumatic,” as she lost a few tires during the experience.
Johnston says she was driving to her hometown of Price, Utah.
“It was around midnight. So I just decided to go late, which I don’t normally do,” she says. “Dark, can’t see things. So I was at the summit which if you’ve never been in there, it’s … the middle of the canyon … and I hit the deepest pothole I have ever seen in my entire life.”
She says that she was already aware of the pothole, but the late drive was throwing her off.
“[I] hit it and I immediately, it was like, boom, like bad,” Johnston says. “And I immediately knew that one of my tires were at least done, but it ripped both on my right side.”
Johnston says she was one of nine people to hit that pothole throughout the night. The incident ended up costing her $900.
Fix potholes with “UDOT Click and Fix” app
John Gleason with the Utah Department Department of Transportation joins the conversation. He says the pothole Johnston hit was fixed that weekend.
“I’m sorry that you had to encounter that,” Gleason says. “We’ve had a lot of potholes across the state this year because of the extreme winter weather that we’ve had all season long. That, kind of, accelerates the pothole issue once water seeps into the cracks of the pavement.”
Gleason goes on to say that drivers can report potholes with the “UDOT Click and Fix” app.
“You can go drop a pin on the app at any location for any reason,” he says. “If it’s a pothole signal timing that you want us to look at, dead … wildlife on the side of the road. Anything like that, we’ll go out and look at.”
Listen to the full segment.
Dave & Dujanovic can be heard on weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon.
