GLENDALE—Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall joined a work crew on Wednesday morning, helping to shovel and tamp down cold patch asphalt as part of "Pothole Palooza," an annual week-long blitz of spring road maintenance.

Mendenhall described how the winter "freeze-thaw" cycle can wreak havoc on Salt Lake City's streets, which include more than 1,900 lane miles—equivalent in length to 13,000 football fields or 10 million laps around the 9th and 9th whale. And while last winter was light on snow in the valley, it produced more than enough rain and ice to erode driving surfaces.

"That moisture made our roads worse as it seeped in, froze and thawed and broke up the potholes," Mendenhall said. "They’re starting to hatch like little chickens all over the city and that’s why its so important that our crews get out there."

The Mendenhall administration created "Pothole Palooza" in 2023, with the initiative now in its third year. During Palooza week, all of the city's road maintenance resources are devoted to filling as many potholes as possible, across the city, and with the help of resident- and visitor-initiated service requests, primarily through the MySLC mobile app.

"I have tested the app myself; it took me only four minutes to submit a pothole fill request," Mendenhall said. "Let us know where these potholes are, we’re going to be out there."

Last year, work crews filled more than 6,000 potholes during Pothole Palooza, which equates to roughly one-sixth of all pothole work conducted by the city in 2024. Jorge Chamorro, director of SLC's Department of Public Services, said that crews will be proactively checking every street in the city, but that residents could expect a rapid response to any pothole-related requests submitted this week.

"Although our teams are constantly checking the streets throughout the year, it is impossible to be everywhere all the time," Chamorro said. "We really value the reports that come in, especially this week when we are all-hands-on-deck to fill those potholes."

He also said that the city regularly evaluates what type of road surface is best for a particular street, with trade-offs between the upfront cost of construction and long-term maintenance demands. But he also implied that those decisions are largely limited to a choice between concrete and asphalt.

"Asphalt is a cheaper construction method and material to use than concrete; however, concrete requires less maintenance long-term," Chamorro said. "Sometimes for a road not as used—as this one—the most cost-effective [option] is asphalt."

Mendenhall noted that, in addition to the mobile app, the city has invested in a dedicated truck to carry the equipment needed for pothole repair, which allows street maintenance to be conducted more quickly and with fewer work vehicles dispatched on the street.

"Every mile matters, because we have residents, businesses and visitors who use all of them," Mendenhall said. "That’s a lot of roadway. And our crews are going to inspect every pothole."

Mendenhall also confirmed that pothole repair is not subject to SB195, a new law that strips the city of its street design authority on the bulk of its east-side roadways.

That bill prevents the city from making any changes to a street that improves safety for pedestrians and cyclists. But pothole repair facilitates high-speed driving under a street's existing configuration, making it a permissible action under the new state oversight process imposed by suburban lawmakers.