How Seattle is tackling its pothole problem
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Seattle is moving quickly to patch its potholes, fixing most within 72 hours — unless they're cavernous enough to swallow a car.
Why it matters: In a city once slammed for having some of the worst road craters in the U.S., Seattle's pothole problems are a street-level litmus test for whether the government is working.
- Nearly nine out of 10 Seattle voters in a 2025 Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce report said city leaders should focus on basics like potholes, parks and public safety.
How it works: When someone reports a hole using the Find It/Fix It app or by phone, SDOT first determines whether it qualifies as a pothole.
- If yes, it gets a quick asphalt patch. If not — say it's too deep or structurally complex — it goes into a broader queue for major roadwork, per a SDOT presentation to the City Council Transportation Committee last week.
- SDOT says larger holes often signal deeper structural failure and are routed to capital programs for major road resurfacing or reconstruction.
- Many pothole repairs are like bandaids or EMT stitches, says SDOT's pavement engineering manager Elsa Tibbits. They're quick fixes to stop the bleeding, but the bigger road failures need surgery.
Yes, but: Most people don't understand why the largest are often the last to be fixed, Councilmember Dan Strauss tells Axios.
- "The common person just sees a hole in the road that's going to eat their car," says Strauss.
By the numbers: Seattle filled nearly 20,000 potholes last year — 90% within three days, per SDOT.
- The city budgeted $4.4 million for pothole repairs in 2024, up from $2.8 million the previous year.
- But Seattle still faces a $1.8 billion backlog in major maintenance for arterial streets, reflecting decades of deferred paving and infrastructure needs, Tibbits tells Axios.
What's next: The city has about 312 miles of road that need rehabilitation at an estimated cost of about $460 million and 286 miles that require full reconstruction at about $1.4 billion, per Tibbits.
- It's prime paving season, she says, and with eight paving crews, four pothole teams and large capital construction in the works, the city is tackling complaints as fast as it can.