SHAVERTOWN -- It feels like we say it every year, but PennDOT officials say it really is one of the worst seasons we’ve had for potholes considering how early we are into the year.
Some of it has to do with the nice and not-so-nice weather we’re having.
People using Hillside Road in Shavertown may have to get used to the sound of pothole bumps.
This week’s warm and then wintry weather is perfect for making road craters.
“I don't know how it could get any much worse than it already is. I hope they come up and fix it,” Megan Pitcavage said.
“They're not even potholes! They're just like ditches, I feel like,” Lilli Stepanski said.
The reason why the warmer weather into icy rain is actually the perfect recipe for making a pothole is that the water soaks into the road and then freezes, causing it to expand and cracking the road. Then, a pothole is born.
“It's so bad. I hit one of the potholes and I thought my car was going to break or something,” Kady Mamola said.
Lots of drivers use Hillside Road to get to the campus of Penn State Wilkes-Barre. Others try to avoid it.
“I just don't go that way. I use the highway. That way is too bad,” Stepanski said.
Luzerne County leaders have plans to patch the potholes on Hillside Road but they’ll have to wait for the weather to clear up.
In the meantime, students say they’ll grin and bear it.
“It's just like you have to swerve around them and act like they're nothing,” Mamola said.