NEW ORLEANS — The Office of the Inspector General in New Orleans has released a report critical of the Department of Public Works, specifically when dealing with complaints about potholes.
The agency looked at service requests from January of 2019 through May of 2021 that were submitted via NOLA-311.
Thousands submitted requests through the system, and the Inspector General says New Orleans' response time was significantly slower when compared to other metropolitan areas around the country.
On average, the Department of Public Works took 204 days to resolve service requests to repair potholes, while other service requests were left pending indefinitely. The average time for pending requests was 348 days.
The Inspector General's Office recommended Public Works adopt a formal policy, with goals and performance measures, to repair potholes within a reasonable period of time.
Inspector General Edward Michel said, “The presence of potholes on our streets is a quality of life issue for citizens. Potholes damage vehicles and are a public safety risk for pedestrians, as well as those citizens who utilize bicycles. The City must work more efficiently to respond in a timely manner to service requests to facilitate safe avenues of transportation.”
The city responded to the report, agreeing to several of the recommendations including:
- Formalize standard operating procedures for inspecting, documenting, repairing potholes identified by residents through 311 system
- Create standard operating procedures for pothole patching with new equipment that will better preserve streets
- Dedicate a portion of the inspector's time at inspecting older 311 reports
- Work with 311 to update the system to allow for duplicate requests and updates as the cases are resolved
Read the full report by clicking HERE.