Seattle Singing The Pothole Blues Pothole-Related Insurance Claims Soar

City officials are blaming bad weather for a dramatic jump in the number of claims filed by motorists whose vehicles were damaged by potholes.

The number of claims filed for damages suffered during this past winter has more than doubled from the same period a year ago, the city estimates.

In 1995, the city reported 174 claims stemming from pothole damage and paid out $18,645 on 70 of the complaints, with checks averaging $266. Last year, the city paid $23,894 on 67 claims out of 263 filed, with an average payment of $356.

The damages range from blown tires to bent wheels, said Seattle Transportation associate engineer Gary Finlayson.

Finlayson blamed the jump in complaints on “just terrible weather.”

Finlayson, who investigates the damage complaints, said that for the city to pay up, “it has to be specific damage created by a specific pothole.” He forwards his investigative work to the city Law Department, which decides whether to pay.

The jump in claims comes at a time when money to repair streets is tight.

With more than half of Seattle’s arterials rated fair to poor, the city this year is earmarking just $7.6 million of an estimated $115 million needed for resurfacing its poorer streets.

Unless the Legislature helps by raising the gas tax or allowing cities to create special taxing districts to raise money for streets and bridges, the only other options at the city level would be temporary - a voter-approved bond issue or levy for street maintenance, Seattle Transportation Director Daryl Grigsby said.

Without at least that, Grigsby said, city street and bridge maintenance programs likely would be significantly reduced next year, and layoffs of street and bridge maintenance personnel would occur in 1999, Grigsby said.

“There would be significant reductions in the services people are already dissatisfied with,” he said.