Patching potholes: spring road maintenance in Bismarck

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - Spring has sprung and that means Bismarck is getting ready to do lots of road repair. Around town, there are lots of potholes and Bismarck Public Works has already started filling them.

The first spring project for Public Works is fixing the potholes.

“You’ll see a lot of pothole patching, two crews out, most of the days, every day as long as it’s not snowing or raining,” said Chad Schiermeister, crew leader of Bismarck Public Works.

With all the snow there have been delays.

“Yeah, so what happens is the ground freezes and thaws and water gets in underneath the holes and then it pushes all the stuff out that we may have just done today or yesterday or last week. So we’re constantly going back and redoing everyone that we just did,” said Schiermeister.

The city engineering department is also starting to plan for road construction when the weather warms up.

“This year, like every year, we will work on our maintenance projects, which include resurfacing and reconstructing those roadways,” said Linda J. Oster, assistant city engineer.

She says the amount of this year’s street maintenance is normal despite a harsh winter, but the snow will cause delays.

“This year we have planned about $14.8 million worth of improvements throughout the city in numerous locations,” said Oster.

Residents can follow along with construction efforts online.

“We have a very useful map online. It is on the city website under the engineering department, under Bismarck streets and there is a very helpful map not only our maintenance projects for roads and streets but also our underground maintenance projects and other work throughout the city,” said Oster.

Once they finish pothole patching and the snow melts, Public Works will sweep out all the city streets in sections.

Both Schiermeister and Oster say the snow this year will cause extra challenges with all the moisture.

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