Transportation agencies and drivers across the United States share a common enemy: potholes on roads that can be annoying and dangerous. Damage from potholes costs U.S. drivers billions yearly. These costs tend to be passed down to the agencies in charge of the roads in question. For transportation departments, road conditions are among the most common sources of complaints and the most cost-intensive to fix. Reducing pothole complaints may save millions for drivers and agencies while increasing efficiencies in previously impossible ways.
Many agencies and road managers may find this a lofty goal. But increasingly, technology can help solve a problem that frequently creates budget and repair headaches. Artificial intelligence, in particular, has become a boon that could be at the root of a successful effort in reducing pothole complaints and expenses for your agency.
The Ongoing Pothole Issue Across the United States
Make no mistake: potholes are more than just a nuance. They are a nationwide problem, capable of causing significant vehicle damage on the micro level and costing your agency millions.
According to some estimates, there are more than 50 million potholes on U.S. roads and highways—about 13 potholes per mile. As a result, more than 44 million drivers experienced vehicle damage due to potholes in 2022, paying a cumulative $26.5 billion in repair costs.
Pothole issues are especially common in the northeastern part of the United States. These are likely due to harsher weather conditions on the roads. But that doesn’t mean this is a problem for only part of the country. Georgia, for example, is ranked as the Number 10 state in the country for pothole complaints. Atlanta consistently stays in the top 15 among major American cities.
Driver problems with potholes and road conditions naturally affect transportation agencies. Potholes are often the first sign of worsening road conditions, leading to construction needs down the road. More immediately, reducing pothole complaints by addressing and solving them can take significant time, while costs related to these complaints can rise quickly.
The Cost of Not Fixing Potholes Quickly
In an ideal world, potholes are solved quickly and easily. When one is reported, a road crew fixes the hole and potential underlying issue before it can become bigger or cause significant harm. When that doesn’t happen, costs related to potholes can quickly rise. They can even become unmanageable for transportation agencies already operating on a limited budget.
Potholes left in place will grow over time, expanding and becoming more difficult to fix. The average cost of a small pothole fix may only be $25. However, that cost can rise into the hundreds over time. Repair costs aren’t the only expense that may come into play.
In most states, drivers or their insurance can submit a claim for the city or municipality they were driving if they can show that poor road conditions were responsible for the damage. The city of Philadelphia, for example, had to pay an average of $575 per pothole claim submitted in 2022, a 2,000% increase in cost over the $25 initial cost for the small repair.
And, especially in cities, that is only the beginning of additional costs. Several larger cities have had to dedicate significant budgets to pay out lawsuits for accidents related to potholes. The city’s $300,000 settlement made headlines in San Diego two years ago. A $10 million lawsuit in Detroit for traumatic brain injury following a pothole accident is still ongoing. A 2015 audit in New York City found that over the previous six years, the city had paid out $138 million to settle more than 12,000 pothole-related claims.
How AI Solutions Can Help in Reducing Pothole Complaints
Naturally, the need to solve potholes quickly can only be the beginning. The next step is finding a solution that addresses the issue. This is where many transportation departments have struggled in the recent past. However, it is also how technology can begin to help.
Fundamentally, technology can help transportation agencies reduce their reliance on driver complaints. These complaints tend to be reactionary but also build a backlog of issues that have to be confirmed and addressed. Leveraging camera systems, agencies can instead find potholes without relying on reports and before they have the opportunity to grow or worsen.
AI technology in particular has made major strides in this regard. Tapping into dashcams of drivers already on the road, AI systems can analyze information from millions of vehicles to understand road conditions in real-time. Within minutes of a vehicle passing a pothole, the image can be fed into the database and analyzed in context with other signifiers of bad or worsening conditions.
As a result, cities and municipalities no longer have to rely on residents to report potholes or manual surveys that take significant time and investments from already-stretched budgets. Instead, systems like Blyncsy can spot trends and changes in pavement conditions over time. These can save millions in costs to repair roads or pay drivers for damaged vehicles.
Moving From Reactive to Proactive in Fixing Road Conditions
AI technology, in short, offers the benefit of a long-standing issue for transportation agencies in cities across the United States. Pavement management can move from reactionary to proactive. It detects small issues for fast fixes and even predicts worsening road conditions before they become major cost concerns.
Blyncsy, for instance, can tap into the dashcam footage of 1.2 million vehicles. It feeds images into a database that analyzes potholes and road conditions alongside other factors like line markings and road signage. The resulting data, limited specifically to the city in question, leads to a natural ability to prioritize repairs based on the biggest issue and potential worsening conditions that could become a problem.
Other technologies can now run similar reports. The advantage of crowdsourced AI systems like Blyncsy is their ability to continually update and rerun their data collection and analysis efforts. Monthly and even weekly inspections are easy and cost-efficient. They drive agency planning and execution of what once seemed like an insurmountable problem. With AI solutions, your jurisdiction’s pothole issue may just be solved.
