Potholes are an issue that road crews are constantly battling, though it becomes much more difficult during the winter.

However, the Perry Public Works Department is well-equipped to tackle potholes, even at this time of year. Deputy Director Josh Wuebker says his crews are able to use a new “hot box” for asphalt, which can warm the material and keep it that way as they use it. He says that piece of equipment is very useful throughout the year, but adds it’s particularly handy when they need to address emergency patches when asphalt isn’t readily available. “We go down to an asphalt company and we’ll get some stuff called ‘cold patch,’ which is just basically a cold product. But we’ll probably fill that in our new hot machine, we’ll leave it in there. And that way if, you know, we have 10 potholes pop up, guys can hook on the trailer (and) go out (and) fill those. And then that gives us a good supply, because they don’t make hot mix or cold mix during the wintertime, so we’ve got to kind of stock up and store what we can ourselves. So we’ll have some on hand too, if we need it.”

Wuebker emphasizes that the department keeps a list of all reported potholes, and they will fill them in the order they’re reported as the weather allows. Anyone with questions or who would like to report a pothole can reach out to Perry Public Works at 515-465-2675.