Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler has hired several local companies to help repair potholes in order to combat one of the worst pothole seasons in recent history.
The city signed $1.245 million in contracts with five local companies for pothole patching crews after Beutler signed an emergency order March 11.
The order declared an emergency “to protect the citizens of the city of Lincoln from the imminent threat of damage or serious injury endangering the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the city of Lincoln resulting from potholes.†It gave the mayor the power to quickly contract with private companies for pothole patching.
The contracts are with Bauer Underground Inc., Complete Construction Services, Dickey-Hinds-Muir Incorporated, High Plains Enterprises and MTZ Construction LLC, based on executive order information on the city clerk’s website.
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Sixteen private crews have been helping city workers with pothole patching, where a cold mix is put into a pothole then tamped down. This temporary patching is used when it is too cold for more permanent fixes.
The city is now using both the patching crews and one-man spray machines that use a hot mix, said Tim Byrne, maintenance operations manager for the Lincoln Transportation and Utilities Department.
The city has filled 29,000 potholes in the last two weeks, Byrne said. Last year, the city filled about 40,000 potholes the entire pothole season.
Omaha — with City Council approval — also hired private contractors to help fill potholes, using $450,000 in contracts with three private companies.
At least one of the Omaha companies did not send the number of crews promised. Six teams of four people showed up, not the 11 crews expected, according to a story in the Omaha World-Herald.
The companies will still do the same amount of work, according to Mayor Jean Stothert. It will just be spread over a longer period of time.