CINCINNATI — From his front yard near Ferguson Road, on the border between West Price Hill and Westwood, Leonard Whited stares at a landscape of potholes.
There’s a big one at the bottom of his driveway. Whited has to swerve to avoid it every time he pulls in and out.
"They already patched that once, and it already broke through again," Whited said. "They need to do some work on these streets boy, I'll tell you."
City leaders acknowledge the city’s pothole problem. At his budget press conference last month, Mayor Aftab Pureval agreed with residents' concerns about potholes.
The conditions of the roads are not meeting our expectations," Pureval said at the time, highlighting an inherited $400 million infrastructure maintenance gap (read more about that here) .
"We are committed in the interim, while we are digging, to continue to prioritize basic services and to continue to prioritize road conditions," Pureval said.
Creative Solutions
With rising costs and limited funds, city leaders are exploring creative approaches to address road maintenance challenges.
The cost to pave one lane mile rose 20% last year to $600,000, according to the budget.
The Department of Transportation and Engineering (DOTE) plans to complete at least 30.5 lane miles of street rehabilitation using the FY 2026 allocation. The department intends to perform preventative maintenance on an estimated 18.5 lane miles, according to the budget.
DOTE also anticipates receiving outside grants of up to $24.5 million for Street Rehabilitation projects in FY 2026, the budget states.
Cincinnati's current pavement condition rates 63 out of 100, with the department director, Greg Long, telling council in March that there’s been a five-year downward trend.
Every neighborhood in the city is targeted for roadwork on a three-year rotation, according to DOTE’s website. (See a map and a 2025 list.)
When it comes to potholes, Cincinnati council member Evan Nolan believes the city needs to be more proactive rather than reactive when it comes to addressing potholes in particular.
"We wait for people to let us know when they see an issue," Nolan said. "Not everybody is reporting issues, and we can't just expect our constituents to do all that work for us."
In his budget priority memo, Nolan advocated for allocating $30,000 in the new budget to engage the entrepreneurial community in finding solutions. The budget was passed by council on Wednesday.
"We currently rely on a complaint-based system," Nolan said. "We wait for people to let us know when they see an issue. Not everybody is reporting issues, and we can’t just expect our constituents to do all that work for us."
Instead, the council member wants to conduct an "innovation lab" that brings together transportation experts, urban planners and technology industry experts.
"We ask those folks to bring those ideas to the table, and we kind of frame it as a little bit of a contest to see who can come up with the best ideas to address these issues," Nolan said.
The details for the program for potholes is being worked out, Nolan said. All ideas will be scored according to the city’s needs, he said.
Report Requested
Council member Mark Jeffreys introduced a motion that council passed this week, asking the city administration for a report on street rehabilitation and maintenance evaluation.
In particular:
- Street, rehabilitation, maintenance and pothole repair of peer cities
- Potential benefits of bringing street rehabilitation operations in-house
- Feasibility of opening a municipal asphalt facility to produce and supply material for street maintenance operations
- Recommendations on how the city might approach these more efficiently
"If there are more efficient ways for us to do rehab or pothole repairs, then we ought to be exploring it," Jeffreys said at Monday’s Budget and Finance Committee.
According to a memo sent to council members from City Manager Sheryl Long, the city has doubled its efforts on pothole repairs compared to last fiscal year.
Roughly 44% of the $3.2M spent on repairs were performed by two outside contractors, as opposed to the city’s Department of Public Services.
"Should we bring it back in-house? We also used to own an asphalt facility. Should we explore that or not?" Jeffreys said.
The report is due back within 90 days.
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