Understanding the Pothole Problem
It’s an all too familiar scene. Driving down the road, spotting a pothole up ahead and then bam, you continue driving wondering whether you popped a tire or left a chunk of your car on the road behind you.
As winter turns to spring, you may start to notice a higher number of potholes littered throughout New Jersey’s roads. Potholes are often dependent on water freezing, which causes them to form during the winter. However, it usually isn’t until all the ice and snow recede from the roadways that they become noticeable and start to wreak havoc.
The Science Behind Pothole Formation
Potholes form when groundwater seeps underneath pavement and freezes, causing the pavement to expand, bend and contract. When the ice melts, gaps and voids are left under the pavement. As the freezing and thawing process repeats itself, the pavement continues to weaken.
The weight of vehicles as they drive over the weak surface breaks down the pavement until pieces of the roadway come loose and are displaced, creating a pothole. If the pothole fills with water again, refreezes, and breaks off more asphalt, the pothole grows.
The Consequences of Pothole Damage
The consequences of driving over a pothole can range from minor issues, such as knocking your car out of alignment, to serious damage to your wheels and tires. A survey conducted by AAA in 2023 found that in 2022, two out of 10 drivers sustained vehicle damage significant enough to need a repair after hitting a pothole. The average price per repair was $406.
Lucky for New Jersey drivers, the state Department of the Treasury allows drivers to file a claim form if their vehicle was damaged by a pothole on some state roads.
How to File a Pothole Claim
To file a pothole claim form, visit the New Jersey Treasury’s Division of Risk Management website at https://www.nj.gov/treasury/riskmgt/potholeclaims.shtml.
To start the process, click through the available prompts, which include whether you are the registered owner of the damaged vehicle, whether bodily injury was involved in the incident and where it took place. Based on your answers to those questions, you will be directed to the correct website, contact or form to complete your claim.
Per the Treasury’s website, if an incident occurred due to road conditions on a local or county roadway, you should call the respective township or county and file a claim directly with them.
If the incident occurred on the Garden State Parkway or the New Jersey Turnpike, call the NJ Turnpike Authority or visit its website to file a claim with the agency directly.
Once a claim form is received by the Treasury’s Division of Risk Management, the office checks with the Department of Transportation to see if it has been made aware of the pothole and moves forward from there. As stated by the NJ Department of the Treasury website, an investigation into a claim is focused on whether the state had prior notice and sufficient time prior to the damage to have taken measures against the pothole or other road hazard.
“If you do not meet this stringent requirement or pierce the ‘prior notice’ threshold, your claim will be denied,” the Treasury Department says on its website.
How often are claims paid?
While potholes may be common, claim payments are not. The NJ Treasury’s website says that historically, for matters such as potholes and similar road hazard property damage claims, the state has paid less than 1% of all claims made.
According to data provided by the Treasury Department, 327 claims have been filed since 2023. Of those, 315 have been denied and 12 have been paid for a total amount of $4,977.
How to report potholes
Although the New Jersey Department of Transportation’s highway technicians repair potholes year-round, their most active pothole repair season is during the spring.
“In addition to our crews monitoring and reporting potholes that need repair on state highways, we encourage motorists to continue to report potholes,” said an NJDOT spokesperson. To report a pothole on state highways, call 1-800-POTHOLE or visit the NJDOT website to fill out a form.
To report potholes on county roads, drivers can find contact information for the appropriate jurisdiction at https://nj-dot.nj.gov/transportation/commuter/potholecounty.shtm.
To report a pothole on the Garden State Parkway of the New Jersey Turnpike, visit https://www.njta.com/ to fill out a form.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: It’s pothole season! How to report one in New Jersey
