Pothole patrols smooth your ride

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - It was a thump and bumpy ride down Virginia Beach Boulevard until Walter and Rob showed up. The two man pothole patrol pair, brushes and spreads hot, they spread liquid material in the hole.

"It connects new asphalt to the old asphalt. It's like a glue makes it sticky binds it together," said Bob Dillard, the supervisor overseeing the work.

Once the black and chunky asphalt pours out of the truck's chute, a rake is used to spread it around. Then, a tamper mashes it to keep everything in place.

"It seals the new asphalt, binds it to the existing asphalt where water can't get back in there and pull it back up," said Dillard.

There are 65 more people just like Walter and Rob patching 150 potholes since the winter storm. Dillard has worked Beach streets for 28 years and after this storm, the number of potholes is pretty low.

"We've been around the Virginia Beach area a lot. We've seen fewer than last year to this point," he said.

Public Works Operations Engineer Mark Gemender credits a decline in potholes to an aggressive plan to fix tiny cracks before they become a problem.

"Many of your viewers will notice we've got little squiggly lines in the asphalt. It's asphalt sealer we put down to seal the cracks."

There's nothing temporary about the patches either. Dillard says they can last up to a year, but it won't be that long until we see Walter and Rob again.

"When we get caught up, we will come out here in maybe two, three months and cut it out and put a permanent patch down on it," Dillard said.