Potholepalooza Begins and an ambitious PaveDC Launched “a comprehensive plan to eliminate all roads in poor condition in Washington, DC by 2024”

From the Mayor’s Office:

“Mayor Muriel Bowser today announced the launch of PaveDC, a comprehensive plan to eliminate all roads in poor condition in Washington, DC by 2024. The PaveDC plan has four priorities: road rehabilitation, road maintenance, alley repair and reconstruction, and sidewalk reconstruction. The Mayor also kicked off the 10th annual Potholepalooza – a month-long campaign led by the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) to accelerate pothole repairs across Washington, DC.

“The start of spring always brings a new batch of potholes, and we are eager to get them fixed,” said Mayor Bowser. “With PaveDC, we are looking beyond our annual repairs and taking the steps necessary to ensure that by 2024, no roads in Washington, DC are in poor condition. Our goal is to create a safer, stronger DC by building more reliable roads across all eight wards.”

Today’s kickoff event was held at the site of the 14th Street, NW Streetscape project, along the border of Wards 1 and 2. The $16.7 million project on 14th Street, NW runs from Thomas Circle to Florida Avenue, NW. It is one of the busiest commercial corridors in the District for pedestrians, cyclists, buses, and vehicles. On average, the 14th Street, NW corridor carries about 23,000 vehicles per day and up to 175 bicycles per hour. It is also a popular transit corridor, with the 52, 53, and 54 bus routes carrying more than 13,000 daily riders. The streetscape project will enhance multimodal accessibility, and make the street safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. One of the key improvements is a design feature called bus boarding islands, which will eliminate some of the conflicts between bikes and buses. The project’s final design will include full depth reconstruction at R Street, NW, ADA compliant sidewalks, upgraded traffic signals, landscaping improvements, drainage improvements, and pavement mill and overlay.

The 14th Street, NW Streetscape project will also benefit from the PaveDC initiative. As part of PaveDC, DDOT will launch an interactive map at ddot.dc.gov/pavedc of all planned paving for the 2018 paving season. The map indicates which streets and sidewalks are planned for repair in 2018 and when the repairs have been completed.

“DDOT is proud to be working hand-in-hand with Mayor Bowser on the PaveDC initiative, which builds upon the success of programs like Potholepalooza and Alleypalooza, and reinforces the Mayor’s commitment to long-term investments in the District’s infrastructure,” said DDOT Director Jeff Marootian.

DDOT’s pothole crews will use hot box equipment to increase efficiency during Potholepalooza. Hot boxes keep asphalt at the proper temperature, ensuring it does not go to waste, and allows DDOT to recycle milled material into asphalt. Eight new hot boxes will be attached to vehicles to perform work previously contracted to external companies. In addition, DDOT’s crews will continue using mobile geographic information system (GIS) mapping technology that allows the status of pothole repairs to be updated in real time. While using the GIS mapping technology, DDOT can connect to the live service request database to indicate work performed and include pictures of completed work. The map will also update reports to 311 within an hour.

During the month-long campaign, residents and visitors are encouraged to submit pothole repair service requests, and DDOT will fill reported potholes within 48 hours of a service request being submitted. The normal response time is 72 hours. Potholepalooza progress can be tracked online using the interactive map here. DDOT will also post daily updates with the overall totals of potholes filled.

How to Report a Pothole

Residents and visitors can report a pothole by doing the following:

Calling the Mayor’s Call Center at 311
Using DC’s 311 smartphone app
Texting DC 311 (Type pothole, then the service request location. Type status for an update)
Visiting DDOT’s online pothole repair site
Tweeting @DDOTDC and using hashtag #potholepalooza
Emailing the Service Request Center”