Topeka crews see, repair 21,000 more potholes since 2021
TOPEKA (KSNT) - Crews with the City of Topeka have already repaired more than 27,000 potholes so far this year.
Topeka's City Council received the latest news about Topeka Public Works Streets Department's efforts to fill the potholes in the capital city on Tuesday, April 8. According to a presentation from the city, there are 38 maintenance workers in a 51-crew operation responsible for 1,600 lane miles of streets in Topeka. Two patch trucks and four hotbox trailers are responsible for patching all of the potholes.
As of April 1, 2025, crews have filled 27,529 potholes and received 1,206 service requests in Topeka this year. Below is a chart listing annual statistics from Jan 1-April 4 for the last five years.
| Year | Service Requests Received | Potholes Filled |
| 2021 | 191 | 6,066 |
| 2022 | 218 | 7,680 |
| 2023 | 351 | 10,995 |
| 2024 | 1,007 | 22,204 |
| 2025 | 1,206 | 27,529 |
The presentation listed how many potholes were filled from throughout the year from 2024-2021: 2024-46,151 filled potholes, 2023- 36,580 filled potholes, 2022-33,332 filled potholes and 2021-27,088 filled potholes.
Although the number of potholes in recent years has increased, Steve Groen, Topeka's Director of Public Works said assessments of the road quality has improved every three years and he expects good numbers this year as well.
"The three times that they've studied this now the PCI score, which is the measurement of the ride quality and the quality of our roads has consistently gone up," Groen said. "And we're looking forward to seeing what the data shows us here. We're anticipating that the score will go up again and that is an indication that our streets are getting better as we and the governing body has made the investment in using this half cent city-wide sales tax dollar to really be proactive in the maintenance of our roadways."
The city is currently working on a 2025 Pavement Management Program, with the objective of rehabilitating and reconstructing roads, mill and overlay projects and full depth patching. This program is funded by $11,050,000 through the Citywide Half-Cent Sales Tax.
In early 2024, the City of Topeka declared a temporary pothole emergency that lasted 11 days. During that state of emergency, city crews filled nearly 8,000 potholes. To report a pothole, or view where potholes have been pointed out by Topekans, click here.
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