Gone to pot in Boston

Bone-jarring, suspension-breaking divots in the roads are almost an accepted part of life in Boston. They seem to be as inevitable as the hard New England winters that precede their appearance in city streets.

But that may not be true, according to pavement specialists. They say the city ignores nationally recognized paving standards and that Boston's proliferation of potholes could be reduced with a few simple steps.

The city allows utility companies and others who cut into roads some 10,000 times a year to make flimsy temporary patches. Instead of making solid repairs immediately, the city often waits years while heavy city traffic and brutal winters wrench the patches apart, creating moonscapes of craters on some streets.

''That should not be the case," said Robert H. Joubert, coauthor of a US Army Corps of Engineers study that is considered a bible of pothole management. ''There should be a system of repairing utility cuts permanently, immediately."

Boston has a very different way of handling the problem. Rather than requiring those who cut into roadways to make solid repairs to the street, the city charges companies a fee. The city in turn, is supposed to use that money to make permanent repairs.

''We control the patching of the trench," Public Works Commissioner Joseph Casazza said. ''I think that's a good, sound, logical policy."

But it can take decades for the city to get around to the task, preferring to wait until streets are pitted with craters and then repaving completely instead of making spot repairs right away. Some downtown roads weren't repaved for two decades before last year's Democratic National Convention, when Boston went on a beautification binge. In the meantime, city pothole crews are dispersed across the city each spring to make Band-Aid repairs on numerous holes in the streets.

National authorities on paving say Boston may be spending more money than it needs to in the long run and causing motorists more grief than is necessary.

''How many times can you afford to do it over?" said M. Jay Hensley, an engineer who has consulted internationally and was cited this year for ''unmatched dedication to the advancement of asphalt."

He said the way to make smooth, long-lasting roads in Boston is to force anyone who cuts into a street to make permanent repairs to the roadway as soon as the work is done. A permanent fix is merely a matter of filling the hole properly and sealing it with a thick layer of asphalt. Temporary patches in Boston typically only have three inches of asphalt, while permanent ones in most cases would be double that depth.

''Pavements can be preserved for 40, 50 years with preventative maintenance," he said. ''Unless the street is programmed for a rehab or reconstruction, they should put a permanent patch."

Potholes erupt with help from several factors, including heavy traffic, erosion, and the freezing and thawing of moisture -- rain, snow and frost -- inside the pavement. They appear less often in streets that are properly patched, Hensley said.

A Boston roadway typically has four layers. At the bottom is gravel, topped by a heavy-grade asphalt called black base. Then comes a 1 1/2-inch layer of smaller grade asphalt, and finally the ''wearing top," another 1 1/2-inch layer. With a temporary patch, companies often skip the middle two layers, filling trenches with gravel and then applying a single, 3-inch layer as the wearing top.

Casazza maintains that the temporary patches could last for years, but he concedes that many quickly turn into sinkholes. He said that is because companies do not sufficiently tamp down gravel in the holes they have dug. Once traffic starts rolling over them, he said, they compress and sink.

So why doesn't the city simply require utility companies to make better, more durable repairs?

''The reason we control the permanent repair is we pick the time, the hours, when we're going to go in and fix all the damage. The alternative is to say, 'OK, gas company, you stay out in the middle of Post Office Square.' Then the next day, maybe it's NStar. Traffic would be backed up all over the place. The minimum inconvenience to the public is by my going in there, once and for all, working at night, and fixing everything all at once."

Some think that is not the full story, however. Councilor at Large Maura A. Hennigan, who is running for mayor and has spent the last two years harping on Mayor Thomas M. Menino's pothole policies, said the city is addicted to the money it collects from utility companies and others. The city is reluctant to give up the millions it brings in each year in order to force the companies to make better repairs, she said.

''They collect this money and then they hoard it," she said. ''It's an ongoing revenue stream for them. How can they go out and yell at them, because they'll just say, 'Well, what are we paying the city for?' "

Casazza denied the assertion, saying the city uses the money only for road repairs.

''I take the money and pay the bills," he said.

Utility companies say they are doing everything that is required of them.

''When a job is completed, we make quality temporary road repairs, following all the rules, and we contribute to a fund for permanent repaving by the city," NStar spokesman Mike Durand said.

The city's aging infrastructure exacerbates the problem. When the city repaves roads, utilities often need to dig them right up again.

For example, since a nine-block stretch of Boylston Street was repaved in the past two years, 37 permits have been issued for digging holes in the new street, city records show.

Since the beginning of the year, City Hall has received at least 525 pothole-complaint calls and more than 275 claims for damages.

''This is indefensible," said Hennigan, who said she intends to call this week for public hearings on potholes.

''These are basic city services. This isn't rocket science."

Donovan Slack can be reached at dslack@globe.com