A pothole on northbound I-75 in Detroit this month caused more than a few headaches for area drivers.
It was bad enough that WWJ-AM (950) kept returning to the story on April 16, with reports of flat tires, and shared video on social media of cars striking the offending crater one after another.
Eventually, work crews from Wayne County patched the hole in the stretch between McNichols to 7 Mile roads as rain fell.
Michigan Department of Transportation spokeswoman Diane Cross told the Detroit Free Press reports began coming in around 10:30 p.m. April 15 and the pothole was fixed by about 8 a.m. April 16. MDOT contracts with counties in metro Detroit to handle pothole repairs and to deal with other issues on the roads in the region that MDOT oversees, which is why Wayne County crews handled the fix.
The Free Press did not receive a response to a request for comment from a spokesperson for Wayne County Executive Warren Evans about the pothole.
Cross said the goal is to get a pothole fixed as soon as possible, but it’s not as simple as just sending one truck out because those crews also need protection.
“Once we know and once we can get a crew out to fix it, we respond as soon as we possibly can,” she said. “In the world of our budget, our manpower, our schedules, we do as best as we can … as soon as we can.”
Why potholes return every spring in Michigan
It’s not clear if this is a particularly bad year for potholes, despite the I-75 pothole or a recent crash involving a Detroit Police cruiser losing control after hitting a pothole, which sent some officers to the hospital (Detroit police said they were treated and released). Every year brings a fresh crop of potholes, influenced, of course, by weather and the freeze-thaw cycle.
Cross noted that the close to $1 billion invested in major freeways in metro Detroit in the last five to seven years means many stretches have been rebuilt so more of the region’s pothole problems are likely to be happening on roads that haven’t seen that kind of work.
How to report potholes in metro Detroit
Metro (Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties) ranks as the MDOT region that has received the most pothole complaints in recent years. The department takes complaints through an online form and a telephone hotline.
The overall complaint numbers statewide have been declining, with 2,476 (1,293 Metro) in 2023; 2,362 (1,291 Metro) in 2024; and 1,990 (544 Metro) in 2025. MDOT did not provide numbers so far for 2026.
It’s not clear how many potholes there are in Michigan or how many are addressed. It’s also not clear how many pothole reports the City of Detroit or Wayne County receive separately.
How Waymo says its vehicles can detect potholes
Pothole reporting, however, could be in line for an assist from a company with big expansion plans.
Waymo, which has said it plans to offer its driverless ride services in Detroit at some point, announced on April 9 that it aims to bolster pothole reporting through a project with Waze, which has a popular smartphone navigation and traffic app.
Metro areas in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin and Atlanta are the first cities where the project is being deployed, but Detroit is expected to be included in conjunction with Waymo’s ride-hailing service. The company did not provide clarity on when this might happen. Cities and local departments of transportation can access Waymo pothole reporting through the free Waze for Cities platform.
Arielle Fleisher, policy development and research manager at Waymo, told the Free Press that Waymo vehicles can detect potholes while driving.
“If we feel that dip, our cars pick up the vibration, we pick up that real dip, that divot in the road, and that’s the signal to identify it’s a pothole,” she said, noting that the vehicles can differentiate a pothole from something like a railroad track.
This is data that’s been collected internally and designed to improve the ride for Waymo users, but Waymo can make it available to help cities and transportation departments address a problem that all cities confront, she said.
“We have a shared goal for safer streets, and we want to be good neighbors and help,” Fleisher said.
What Detroit and MDOT say about Waymo’s data
Ron Brundidge, director of Detroit’s Department of Public Works, said in a statement that this information could be helpful.
“DPW welcomes being made aware of potholes that exist in our city, so that we can address them timely. Presently, we become aware of potholes via routine inspections as well as complaints received via the Improve Detroit app,” he said. “During the spring months, which are the highest volume months for potholes, DPW commits to repairing potholes within three workdays of receiving notification. Because there are city, county and state roads in Detroit, we’d also be interested in a coordinated approach with our partners at Wayne County and MDOT.”
Cross indicated additional information on potholes would be helpful for MDOT as well, although it wasn’t clear if the department had been notified of Waymo’s announcement.
Eric D. Lawrence is the senior car culture reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Send your tips and suggestions about cool automotive stuff to elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber. Submit a letter to the editor at freep.com/letters.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Potholes cause damage across metro Detroit as Waymo offers reporting help
Reporting by Eric D. Lawrence, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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