Snow, ice, power outages ... and now potholes

The snow has melted and the power is (mostly) back on. Now it's time to fix the new potholes that have popped up after our winter storm. 

The Seattle Department of Transportation has four crews of Pothole Rangers repairing the damage.

You can report a pesky pothole at seattle.gov or by calling 206-684-7623 (ROAD). And you can check Seattle's pothole map to see if your trouble spot is already on the to-do list.

City officials say crews filled 25,110 potholes in 2011. That's two and a half times the number filled in 2010.

According to SDOT, potholes are a sign of aging infrastructure. During the winter, water under the pavement can freeze and expand, then thaw and contract. This freeze/thaw cycle causes pavement to crack so that it deteriorates quickly under the weight of traffic, and then the streets seemingly break out in potholes overnight.