Sacramento County repairs about 41,000 potholes each year. And the county is asking drivers to report new ones. Mike Garcia with the Sacramento County Department of Transportation says about 40 people are assigned to pothole patching - double the normal number:
Garcia:"We don't have the funding to pave all the roads that we want to pave and a lot of our neighborhoods that we're patching potholes in now - the pavement is 50-60 years old."
Those old roads and potholes can cause problems for drivers. Frank Moretti is TRIP, a national transportation research group.
Moretti:"Everything in your vehicle is operating under more stress and things that are going to wear out are going to wear out that much more quickly."
A 2010 TRIP study found the average driver in the Sacramento
area pays an extra 600 dollars each year to maintain a vehicle as a
result of driving on rough roads. The average pothole costs about
68 dollars to repair in Sacramento County.