ST. LOUIS – Help is on the way for citizens who have complained about potholes turning their community into an obstacle course.  

Drivers say dodging potholes is a daily battle. A nationwide road repair initiative is bringing in crews to tackle the city’s worst streets, with Kings Highway becoming a potential priority for repairs.

In Shafer, Missouri, in the central part of the state, crews filled more than 700 potholes in just one day, proving how quickly road conditions can improve with the right resources. 

Now, they’re coming to St. Louis to help with its pothole problems.  St. Louis city crews say they have patched more than 7,000 potholes in the past year. However, drivers are saying there are still plenty more to deal with.

“Potholes are getting very deep so when you’re biking, you’ll absolutely have to be looking down on the road and scoping out these potholes,” said resident Leonard Smith.

Julie Zhang, another resident, has fears about her tires because of the potholes. 

St. Louis’ Street Division is responsible for maintaining 1,000-plus miles of roads and 600-plus miles of alleyways, but potholes form faster than they can be repaired. That’s where EZ Street’s Pothole Patrol comes in.

“The reason we are here because EZ Street actually started here, and it was off Kingshighway,” said Charles Thomas, Pothole Patrol Campaign manager. “And obviously that’s a great inspiration for pothole filling because we know how Kingshighway is. I drive it everyday and it’s a nightmare.”

On March 26, the EZ street team will be in downtown St. Louis for the World of Asphalt conference, where they are inviting the public to voice their street concerns to them and political leaders.

“We feel like this is a good rallying point; it’s such a simple thing to start with, you know? We can start working together on potholes, then we start working together on everything else,” Thomas said.

For those who would like to report a pothole that needs to be fixed, individuals can visit the city’s reporting system here and visit the patrol’s website to learn more about their plans.