You may have heard of Lollapalooza, Kidzapalooza, and maybe even Homerpalooza of “The Simpsons” fame, but you might never have heard of Pothole Palooza, a celebration of repair and renewal in Tacoma, Wash.

And, of course, who would preside over such an auspicious event but Phil the Pothole … as in fill … well, you get it.

According to Tacoma’s Deputy Mayor John Hines, the idea for a weeklong blitz on the city’s potholes had been brewing for a few years. He decided that it was important to not just fix the streets but to inform the public about what causes potholes and why they seem to be a part of the landscape. Thus emerged a snazzy campaign to fix and inform during the first week of June 2024.

“We decided it was time to let people know where the potholes come from and here’s what we are doing about them,” Hines said.

The public often thinks they’re a sign of neglect, he added. Motorists often don’t pay any attention to the condition of the streets and then they hit a pothole and puncture a tire. “That’s when they notice!” he said.

Many roadways, particularly in the northern tier of states experience potholes as a result of the freeze-thaw cycle that happens under the street through cracks in the surface, although rainfall can create the same condition. When the ice melts underneath, there is added stress on the surface, which eventually collapses the pavement, forming a pothole.

Tacoma’s streets are subject to this stress, and Hines said, the city determined that it was important to do an all-out blitz early in the summer before working on larger projects. They identified 10 arterial roadways that carry heavy traffic and transit vehicles in each of the five council districts. The streets selected were based on the frequency of reports and requests for attention to a specific site.

The blitz resulted in 5,369 potholes being repaired or prevented from forming along 3.25 lane miles around Tacoma. Hines said the city’s street operations division’s efforts “to address maintenance will continue throughout the year.”

Like many municipalities, he said, Tacoma’s streets division is limited by its workforce resources and time. The 82 full-time street employees and 13 seasonal workers are responsible for the city’s 857 miles of traffic lanes along main arterial streets and 8,000 residential blocks, in addition to maintenance of signs, medians, islands and roundabouts.

The city of 220,000 residents sits on Puget Sound in the shadow of Mount Rainier. It is known for being the western terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad and home of the U.S. Army’s Joint Base Lewis-McChord, a training and mobilization center for all U.S. military services.

Hines said Tacoma has experienced rapid growth in recent years, and the need for continuous road maintenance has increased with the population.

In 2015, Tacoma voters approved two ballot issues for a streets initiative that combined money from utility, property and sales taxes, as well as city funds, grant money and agency partnerships amounting to about $300 million. The 10-year commitment was to work on the city’s residential streets. Pothole Palooza was designed to tackle the arterial streets before digging into the major repairs throughout the summer months.

He said Tacoma has an advantage in its street maintenance and repairs because of an asphalt plant that the city acquired from a private company. Having its own asphalt plant means considerable savings for the city. The plant produces about 50 tons of asphalt an hour, equaling 12,000 tons of asphalt a year.

“We’re big fans of recycling,” Hines added. So, the city screens old asphalt removed from the streets to create new asphalt for repair and maintenance projects. In addition to the cost-savings for the city, recycling the old asphalt means fewer raw materials for the manufacturing process.

Hines said the city has been intentional about keeping residents informed about the streets project through the city’s website and social media channels. The information made navigating the streets of Tacoma much easier for motorists during Pothole Palooza week and continues through the other street repair projects.

The city’s informational efforts were well-received by the public, he added, as was the pothole repair blitz.

As for Phil the Pothole, he said Tacoma has a history of creating mythical characters to illustrate different departments of the city. “We’ve had the Trash Toad, and Harvey and Beulah — the Tacoma Police Department’s talking motorcycles — who were popular with the kids.”

To make the serious business of street repair more exciting, Hines said he thought it was time to have some fun. He was looking for a name like Pete the Pothole, but when the name Phil the Pothole surfaced, he was sold. He said he’s received several emails saying the character is “a cool idea.” Phil appears to have taken on a life of his own. Hines said Phil may be marrying and having a family in the future.

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