During the past few weeks, city maintenance workers have been working as much as possible to repair the potholes caused by the recent winter storms.

"We just have to work through this," said city spokesman Scott Martin. "Potholes are going to happen with every winter storm."

The winter storms Oklahoma has experienced throughout the months of December and January are taking a toll on city streets. Because of all the snow and ice, potholes and cracks can be found on streets throughout Norman.

Norman maintenance workers have been trying to do their best to repair the damage from the storms, said Public Works Director Jim Barry. However, with the melting snow and ice along with the recent rain comes wet conditions, he said.

"It is very difficult to repair the damage with wet conditions," Barry said. "There is only a limited number of locations they can work on when it is wet."

In some of the more heavily damaged areas, a special mixture is having to be used to repair the damage, Barry said. The process used to repair the streets is not expensive, however it is very time consuming, he said.

Barry also said the street damage in the Norman area was not too bad, especially compared to Oklahoma City, where streets were much more damaged from the storms.

While the potholes are a problem, automobile and repair shops have reported few cars coming in from the damaged streets.

"We have not had too many cars come in because of the potholes," said Beth Ruth, Fisher's Paint and Body Shop manager's assistant. "Mostly the cars we have seen are due to accidents from the ice and winter storms."

Anne Pierce, co-owner of Leon Pierce Body Repair, also reported not having many cars come in from the potholes.

"None of the customers have reported having any problems because of the potholes," Pierce said.

Besides repairing all the potholes, city road workers are also hoping to get the streets cleaned off as soon as possible, Barry said.

"We hope to be able to clean the sand off the streets sometime next week," Barry said. "We are also hoping the rain might wash some of the sand away."
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