BELOIT — Although spring is still a few weeks away, the pothole season is under way in southern Wisconsin — and with a vengeance.

“Every time it freezes and thaws, we have to fill potholes,” said Bill Johnson, streets supervisor for the Beloit Department of Public Works.

And they’ve been doing it a lot more often this winter, amid record snowfalls and wildly fluctuating temperatures.

“We did 6,200 (potholes) in January — that’s between all the snowfalls,” Johnson said. “(In February), I’ve done another 4,800. That’s a lot more than we usually do.”

The job is made more difficult as winter storms continue to develop and further deteriorate county roads.

“Whenever you have a lot of precipitation and a lot of cool temperatures … it really contributes to the problem,” said Pam Moen, a spokeswoman for AAA of Wisconsin, which has taken notice of increased pothole complaints.

“It certainly seems that we’re seeing a bigger problem with potholes this year, and earlier,” she said.

Brian Hedrington, Streets Department superintendent for South Beloit, said a long winter is hard on his streets.

“You get the freeze-and thaw cycle; the water gets in the cracks, and it freezes and busts (pavement) up,” he said.

In Beloit, Riverside Drive is dotted with craters. Workers filled more than 700 potholes on that heavily traveled street in February. Johnson said Bayliss Avenue, McKinley Avenue and Eighth Street also have significant problems.

According to Andy Hill, a project engineer for the city, Riverside Drive, which is part of U.S. Highway 51, is scheduled to be resurfaced by the state in 2010.

“We think it’s pretty bad,” Hill said. “The scope of the project is total reconstruction.”

One of the worst stretches in Rock County is U.S. Highway 14 between Janesville and the Walworth County line. Several drivers discovered this the hard way last week.

Rock County Public Works Superintendent Terry Staver said one of his snowplow drivers came across a driver who had hit a pothole and blown a tire. The driver reported the problem and returned to patch the hole.

“By the time he got back — and I’m not exaggerating — two other cars had blown tires, too,” Staver said.

Public works officials said they’re doing what they can to address pothole problems, but in cold weather, solutions are limited and temporary. In subfreezing weather, crews will fill potholes with cold-patch asphalt.

But that has drawbacks.

“It’s a temporary fix,” said Roger Johnson, public works director for the village of Clinton. “It won’t be until April or May when they open the blacktop plants, and then we’ll start hot-patching.”

Hedrington said the weather has been so bad that cold-patches aren’t holding in South Beloit.

In Beloit, Johnson has two public works employees running the city’s “patchmobile,” but because snow-removal is the city’s first priority, potholes sometimes aren’t filled right away.

“Every day they’re not doing snow they’re … running the patchmobile,” Johnson said.

City and county officials said they don’t anticipate the budget strains caused by increased snow-removal and higher road-salt prices to pinch pothole-patching funds. They do, however, rely on citizens to make them aware of pockmarked streets.

“If nobody notifies us — if we don’t know where they’re at — then they don’t get fixed,” Staver said.

Watch for signs of pothole damage

The pothole doesn’t have to be big and you don’t have to hit it head-on to damage your car.

“It doesn’t always have to immobilize you to be a problem,” said Pam Moen, a spokeswoman for AAA Wisconsin.

Because potholes have been such a significant problem this year in Wisconsin, Moen said, the automobile association has distributed a news release warning motorists about the dangers.

“A broken shock or strut from a pothole encounter could alter a vehicle’s steering and handling, and create dangers when driving at high speeds or in tight corners,” Moen said.

AAA recommends seeking the help of a qualified mechanic immediately if a car shows any sign of suspension or alignment damage.

Ryan Lovejoy, manager of Jack’s Tire Sales and Service in South Beloit, said his shop is always busy this time of year with customers who have pothole-related problems.

“(But) this year more than ever, it seems … tons and tons of people (need repairs),” Lovejoy said.

So far this winter, he’s seen ruined tires and wheels, and also suspension damage.

“Most people either hit them and blow a tire and stop right where they are, or they’ll hit them and notice a bad vibration,” Lovejoy said. “We’ve seen some of them hit potholes so hard that it damages suspension components.”

So what’s a wary motorist to do? The best thing is to simply ease up on the gas when you notice potholes in the pavement.

“The slower, the better,” Lovejoy said.