Mayor Turner boasts early success of Houston pothole initiative

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- It's no secret the city has some issues with potholes, but Mayor Turner promised to get the repair jobs started within 24 hours of a complaint. So far he is keeping that promise.

Mayor Sylvester Turner told city council his pothole improvement plan is already working, saying "96.05 percent of the 329 actual potholes were assessed and repaired by the next business day."

Since Turner's inauguration, 550 potholes were reported to 311.

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The mayor says 316 were fixed the next day, 172 were duplicate reports and a small fraction were deemed to the responsibility of a different government agency.

Council members praised Turner for the success but reminded him that some streets were neglected for so long that a quick fix won't help.

"We have subsurface issues that are below the streets," District A Councilwoman Brenda Stardig says. "The water has penetrated below and caused other problems so the subsurface is deteriorating."

Turner says where permanent solutions are needed they will come and he reminded everyone that it will take time to get every pothole filled, but help is on the way.

"Filling potholes is a short term fix, a temporary fix," Turner says. "In the long term, some of the streets need to be repaved or reconstructed."

After the mayor made this promise, pothole calls to 311 jumped way up, from 22 a day to 65 a day, he says.

To report a pothole, you can call 3-1-1 within the the City of Houston, go online to the city's website, or use the city's 3-1-1 application from your smart phone or tablet.