Tennessee launches new hotline for pothole reports

After a particularly grueling year for Tennessee drivers, the Department of Transportation is launching a new statewide hotline to report potholes.

• Callers can dial 833-TDOTFIX to report potholes on state roads. You can also make maintenance requests online.

Flashback: The hotline was created after the General Assembly passed a law calling for a streamlined reporting system.

Between the lines: The state has a system to reimburse for some car damage caused by potholes. But one of the requirements for a successful claim is that the pothole in question must have been reported to the state before the damage was done to ensure the state had a chance to fix it.

• "If potholes haven't been reported, those claims can be denied," state Sen. Becky Duncan Massey (R-Knoxville) said earlier this year while explaining the legislation behind the hotline.
• "There needs to be ease of reporting," Massey said. "That's where we’re trying to get to."

By the numbers: There's no doubt a cold and wet winter made for a particularly rough wave of potholes this year.

• Statewide, some 15,699 tons of asphalt material have been used to patch potholes during the fiscal year ending this month.
• TDOT has received 6,396 pothole work requests this fiscal year. More than half of those requests were in Davidson County.