With the precision of a surgeon (or maybe an expert video gamer), Paul Lundegreen and Emilio Aguilera are improving city streets – in record time.
Lundegreen and Aguilera are two members of the City of Amarillo (COA) Street Department trained and skilled in operating one of the three new DuraPatcher Pothole Repair trucks, which are helping revolutionize how the city maintains and improves streets.
“We can now fill a pothole in a matter of seconds, depending on the size of the pothole,” said Lundegreen, a Utility Worker with the COA Street Department.
“The trucks are working pretty good for us,” said Aguilera, Equipment Operator I with the COA Street Department. “Actually, they are working very well.”
Before the arrival of the trucks, the city could repair an average of about 20 potholes a day (depending on size of the potholes). This was through a manual repair process which could include multiple city staff and road closures.
City council approved the $923,445 purchase of three DuraPatcher trucks last August. The trucks began repairing potholes in May. The personal best so far? The city was able to repair 146 potholes in one day.
“So far these trucks have met and exceeded our expectations,” said Len Hill, COA Street Superintendent. “The old way was all manual. With these trucks you can maintain the same repair rate all day long.”
An operator inside the truck cab uses a control stick (much like a video game) to guide a nozzle at the front of the truck.
The nozzle cleans the pothole area with compressed air, applies an emulsion tack coat, fills the pothole with coated aggregate and then covers the pothole with dry aggregate. Traffic can resume in a matter of minutes.
Lundegreen and Aguilera received two to three weeks of training before taking a truck out on the streets to tackle potholes.
“Is it like a video game? I guess you could say that,” Lundegreen said with a laugh. “It was definitely unique training.”
Aguilera said Amarillo motorists are getting accustomed to seeing the new trucks.
“We do get the occassional rubber-necker who stops and looks at the truck,” Aguilera said. “It is just something new they may not have seen before. I think people are seeing that they are working.”
For more information contact City of Amarillo Media Relations Manager Dave Henry at 806-378-5219 or by email at david.henry@amarillo.gov.
