potholes

Hole Patch employee patches hole. Photo by city of Boston.

The Boston DPW today begins trials of three new methods for temporarily filling spring potholes until they can be permanently fixed when the weather warms up. Among them, according to a press release from the mayor's office:

Hole Patch utilizes a silly putty like material in a Kevlar bag that is placed in potholes. City workers simply place a Hole Patch bag in the pothole to make it safe for drivers. They return when weather conditions improve to make a permanent repair. Because Hole Patch advertises as easy to apply, it can in theory save the city costs on temporary repairs.

Also to be tried out in our fresh holes:

Aquaphalt contains a vegetable oil based binder, which contains no VOCs (volatile organic compounds), a contributor to air pollution in Boston. Many repairs with Aquaphalt last beyond ten years, much longer than the industry standard for pothole patching materials.

The city's crack Pothole Patrol Crew will swarm the South End today, taking names but no prisoners as it fills in winter potholes like nobody's business.

Today's Globe gives us in-depth coverage of Navestock, England, which admits to specifically not filling in potholes as a method of controlling driving speeds. You can't drive around it, and that's the hole, er, whole story.

The Boston Globe is on a pothole patrol, and we need your help.

If you know of a nasty pothole in Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, or Somerville, take a photo and e-mail it as a jpeg to:

ciweek@globe.com

Please include the address and describe the location of the pothole, the date the photo was taken, and your own name. Photos and the results of our pothole hunt will be published in a future edition of City Weekly.

thanks,

Emily Sweeney
The Boston Globe
www.boston.com/citytalk