SALT LAKE CITY — After a brutal winter that delivered over 87 inches of snow on city streets, the roadways of Salt Lake City are finally healing.
This week's "Pothole Palooza" multi-day event aimed at repairing the pockmarks that have terrorized cars and trucks this year appears to be a raging success, with the city nearly meeting its goal ahead of Friday's deadline.
Mayor Erin Mendenhall tweeted the city's public services teams had filled 5,691 potholes as of Friday morning. The number is a few shy of the 6,000 potholes-filled goal set when the campaign began Tuesday afternoon.
The filled number is on top of the almost 19,000 potholes that had previously been repaired between the months of January and March of this year.
While the current event is winding down, drivers can still report pothole issues to be repaired by the deadline by heading to the city's website.
At least 70 city employees have been directed to focus entirely on filling potholes during the "palooza" festivities, which the city hopes residents notice.
"While filling potholes is not a full road repair and does not replace the other more robust maintenance work our crews perform, it goes a long way in increasing the safety of our roads for any type of user," said Julie Crookston, the deputy director of operations for the Salt Lake City Department of Public Services.
This year alone, Salt Lake City has budgeted $500,000 for road repairs.
