CINCINNATI — Cincinnati is turning to the public for help with its growing pothole problem, offering $5,000 to a team who can provide the best innovative solution to improve the city's road repair system.
This past winter, Cincinnati filled a staggering 42,900 potholes, four times more than last year’s number. Still, residents felt like the reactive approach based on reports and service requests was not yielding results.
Now, the city has partnered with Flywheel Innovation Labs and Tire Discounters to create a "Shark Tank"-style competition aimed at finding long-term solutions to Cincinnati's deteriorating roads.
WATCH: Why the city is turning to the public for help on addressing its pothole problem:
The lab defines the problem like this: “The City of Cincinnati seeks to reimagine the current process for addressing potholes in order to mitigate the compounding problems of wasted effort, budget strain and public frustration – reducing waste, building trust, and creating an environment in which our residents and businesses can thrive.”
The competition focuses on three key areas: data intelligence (for identifying potholes), communication (about which potholes are being fixed), and materials and methods (to be most efficient in the time and cost of repairs).
Currently, paving costs $600,000 per lane mile.
“Let's make this expensive and frustrating pothole problem go away,” said Donna Zaring, Executive Director of the Flywheel Social Enterprise Hub.
The city has previously used the model for addressing homelessness.
“The conditions of the roads are not meeting our expectations," Mayor Aftab Pureval said at his budget press conference in May, highlighting an inherited $400 million infrastructure maintenance gap (read more about that here).
Even with significant investments from the sale of the Cincinnati railroad, Pureval said the process will take time.
"$400 million in deferred capital maintenance is a very big hole," Mayor Aftab Pureval said in May.
WATCH our previous reporting about the condition of the city’s roads:
The Innovation Lab program costs $40,000 to run, but councilmember Evan Nolan believes the investment will pay off.
"That small investment will hopefully tease out some solutions that save us hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars down the road," Nolan said.
An unexpected $10,000 sponsor for the program is Tire Discounters.
"We drive on these roads too," explained Crissy Niece, Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer at Tire Discounters.
Niece demonstrated how potholes can cause impacts in tire sidewalls, creating tears, dents and other safety issues.
"What that can do is it can actually cause sudden deflation of the tire, and then you lose control, and can cause an accident," Niece said. "We'd much rather, prefer to see regular maintenance."
Key dates for the innovation lab:
- August 24 – Application deadline
- September 8 – Innovation Week
- September 24 – Demo Day
This story was reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
