Bad weather reveals a wave of potholes: Drivers risk costly damage.

After several weeks of freezing temperatures, icy roads, and poor visibility, the thaw has finally arrived. But now a new problem has emerged: as ice and snow melt, water seeps into small cracks in the asphalt. When the water refreezes, it expands, pushing the asphalt apart and creating what are known as potholes.

In Vordingborg Municipality, officials are seeing an unusually high number of these potholes on the roads, which can affect traffic safety.

"Potholes are significantly more common this winter than in milder ones," says Kim Oreby Meyer, supervisor at Vordingborg Municipality. "They will definitely impact traffic safety. If you're not extra careful, it can lead to swerving maneuvers."

Dennis Lange, chief consultant at the Danish Motorists’ Association (FDM), agrees.

"The longer the frost lasts, the worse the situation becomes for Danish drivers," he says.

In several parts of the country, potholes as deep as five centimeters and as wide as a meter have been reported. (Photo: © Mads Claus Rasmussen, Ritzau Scanpix)

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**Damage can hide inside the tire**

If you hit a pothole, the damage may not be immediately obvious.

That’s what Carsten Jensen, owner of the tire center First Stop in Vordingborg, explains.

"When you hit a pothole, it can cause invisible damage inside the tire," he says. "At best, it just results in a puncture. But sometimes we see that the tire bursts later, and it can take weeks before that happens."

According to him, the issue is often discovered only when the tire is removed from the rim.

"People come in with a puncture, but when we take the tire off, we can see that it’s torn apart on the inside," he says. "I’m a bit worried for people’s sake that they might be driving around with damage they don’t even know about."

Potholes can have sharp edges. If you hit one particularly unluckily, you could damage your tires, leading to a puncture—or, in the worst case, a tire blowout. (Photo: © Ida Guldbæk Arentsen, Ritzau Scanpix)

Repairs can also become expensive for car owners.

"The cost depends on the car and the size of the tire, but for many, it adds up to several thousand kroner," Jensen says. "On some vehicles, it could easily reach around 5,000 kroner."

Meanwhile, the Danish Motorists’ Association (FDM) urges drivers to exercise extra caution.

"Potholes can hide in puddles and be difficult to spot in time," says chief consultant Dennis Lange from FDM.

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**Extra workload patching the holes**

It’s the municipalities that identify potholes and notify asphalt companies responsible for repairs.

The high number of potholes means extra workload for both municipalities and contractors.

At the asphalt company Pankas, they’ve had to call in additional staff, but even with more hands, it’s challenging to keep up.

"Once the snow has cleared from the roads, we can see that many more potholes have appeared than we were prepared for," says Daniel Hansen, chairman of Pankas.

Just yesterday, he and a team of colleagues patched over 150 potholes.

And drivers will need to be patient for a while longer.

"As it stands now, it will likely take around a week to two weeks before things start to settle down again, even with extra staff," he says.

This means there will still be many potholes on the roads across the country in the coming weeks.

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**Fewer dangerous potholes than last year**

While Vordingborg Municipality reports numerous potholes and FDM warns that issues may persist depending on the weather, the picture looks different at the Danish Road Directorate.

According to the Road Directorate’s Traffic Center, they’ve received fewer reports of traffic-dangerous potholes at this time of year compared to last year.

However, this doesn’t change the fact that drivers can still encounter many potholes on roads nationwide.

Read also: Give a thumbs-up for potholes: With an app, you can help repair the roads (https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/giv-et-praj-om-huller-med-en-app-kan-du-hjaelpe-med-reparere-vejene)

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**How you can help**

If you spot a pothole, you can help get it fixed.

Both the Danish Road Directorate and most municipalities have a feature on their websites where citizens can report road issues.

You can also do this via apps like *Give a Thumbs-Up* (Giv et praj) or *Citizen Tip* (BorgerTip), where your location is automatically sent when you submit a photo.

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Warning: This article was translated by a Large Language Model, in case of doubt, you can always visit the original source.