St. Louis Mayor touts reduction of pothole backlog 1 month into office

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - St. Louis Mayor Cara Spencer provided a progress report Thursday regarding the city’s pothole backlog.

One month into her tenure as mayor, Spencer said her istration has reduced the backlog by 80%.

As of Thursday night, the city’s website states there have been 1,013 repairs in the last 30 days.

The city said on April 20, there were 359 open requests, and on Thursday, there were 46.

A spokesperson also said the average time to fulfill a request is 6.1 days.

“We’re focused on what residents want to see and that’s flatter roads,” Spencer told reporters at a news conference Thursday.

Damichael Ford, who lives in north St. Louis, said the change is not so obvious.

“All I’m doing driving through St. Louis is swerving left and right, swerving left and right, trying to dodge all the potholes,” he said. “We can catch a flat, have an accident trying to swerve and dodge a pothole, it’s very dangerous.”

First Alert 4 drove around neighborhoods like Hamilton Heights in north St. Louis, where there are still open requests to fill potholes.

The crew saw craters lining the middle of some streets, but also saw paved major thoroughfares like Union Boulevard.

Jeff Trapp said he moved to South St. Louis from St. Charles County within the last year and has already seen improved driving conditions.

“I’ve noticed just lots of new blacktop in holes,” he said. “I mean, it’s not perfect, but I’d say it’s close to 100 percent better than what it used to be.”

Spencer credits the fast moving changes on the roads to the Interim Streets Department Director Jim Suelmann, who previously held the position for over 20 years.

Ford said he hopes to see problems continue to be addressed on the city’s main streets.

“They need to scrape up the whole street and redo the whole street again, repave it,” he said.

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