RED BANK LOADS UP ON POTHOLE FIXER

A Red Bank DPW worker fills potholes at East Front Street and Washington Street with cold patch last week. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

It’s white-knuckle driving season in Red Bank as motorist navigate jagged, gaping potholes in the aftermath of several weeks of snowy and icy weather.

Reports of flat tires, busted axles and near-miss accidents are common.

What are the road crews doing about it? Filling holes with a temporary asphalt product called cold patch, DPW supervisor Bobby Holiday tells redbankgreen.

But finding the stuff was a bit nervewracking in itself.

“I just got 22 tons of cold patch in,” and it wasn’t readily available, Holiday said Friday.

While a good deal of attention has been paid in recent days to a shortage of road salt, cold patch is also in short supply.

“Stavola was all out,” Holiday said of the borough’s go-to asphalt supplier in Tinton Falls. “We made some calls, and found it in Burlington County.”

The borough bought 22 tons, at $135 a ton, in the hope that it will be enough to fill all the craters at least until Stavola re-fires its hot asphalt manufacturing operation, which is in seasonal shutdown, he said.

Meantime, with the calendar showing another month of winter to come, how is the borough set for salt?

“We have enough brine and enough salt for one more storm,” Holiday said.

And after that?

“Springtime,” he said.