MASON CITY, IA - It's like a soundtrack for spring. No, we’re not talking about the chirping of the returning birds, but the roar of cars and pounding tires over potholes.
"A lot of times you don't hear these problems until it gets nice out and the roads are clear, but then you start hearing noises that you haven't heard before," said mechanic Jon Monson.
The potholes are music to the ears of local mechanics, and the power of the pothole is sending a lot of cars to Monson's shop.
"Wheel bearings, ball joints, tire rod ends, they're taking a lot of jarring; especially this year,” said Monson.
And the problems aren't melting away quite as fast as the snow. While the temperature in the air may feel pretty good, it's the temperature under ground that's the problem. That ground temperature's still pretty cold, and they can't do any repairs until it warms up.
"It's hard to get things to stay with moisture, because the moisture gets in there, freezes, expands, kicks it back out," said Pete Hjelmstad at the Iowa Department of Transportation. “It's been such a harsh winter, it's been so cold. A lot of times, we have a January thaw where we can get a lot of things taken care of, but we never had that this year."
For now, crews are temporarily filling the holes with loose material.
The DOT hopes to start patching as soon as possible, but until then, we've just got to drive carefully.
"Try to avoid them; a lot of times, they're unavoidable,” said Monson. “If you can, slow down, maybe ease into them a little bit easier. Other than that, no real ways around it other than just avoid it."
We also spoke to Mason City's Streets Supervisor; he says he hopes to start patching up the city streets by early May.
For now, they're also doing some temporary filling until the ground finally thaws.
Even if your car doesn't seem affected by the road damage, local mechanics say it's a good idea to take it in for an alignment. They say it can increase fuel efficiency and make your vehicle run better.
