Another bitter cold winter has taken its toll on streets and roads.

Butler Councilman Richard Schontz, who oversees the city streets department, said crews have been out repairing potholes the past several days as temperatures reached the 40s.

“They’re already out patching,” he said of the five-man crew.

The city’s department is responsible for more than 80 miles of streets and alleys.

Schontz said the freezing temperatures and heavy snow, particularly in the past month, have created rough driving conditions due to potholes.

“It seems everywhere the streets are in worse condition than normal,” he said. “There’s always a large number after winter, but this year was such an intense freeze.”

Ten days in February had temperatures below zero in Butler, according to the National Weather Service. The city also had nearly 18 inches of snow fall during the month.

Schontz said the deep freeze followed by a quick thawing is bad for streets. He said some are worse than others.

Jackson Street between Brady and Jefferson is rough as is the alley beside the junior high school, Schontz said.

The city depends on residents to call and report bad potholes.

“They keep a running list of what needs to be done,” he said.

The department also monitors the highly traveled streets.

“Brady Street up to the hospital is an example,” he said.

Schontz said the city responds to complaints as quickly as it can, typically within a day or two.

“We’ll get to them all one way or another,” he said.

Thomas Knights, road department superintendent in Butler Township, said the warmer weather this week created a good opportunity to do repairs.

“The timing is perfect,” he said. “We were out all day (Monday).”

Knights said his crews are putting temporary patches on potholes until asphalt suppliers reopen next month.

He said the cold patching is needed until then.

“It seems to be more severe than last,” he said of the road conditions. “The roads seem rough. A lot of areas are lifted from the frost.”

Knights said the township also depends on residents to call in and report potholes, but said the department’s dozen workers are monitoring the townships 93 miles of roads.

“It’s a combination of both,” he said.

Zelienople manager Don Pepe said the borough will fill potholes temporarily during the winter if they are bad enough or if residents complain. Otherwise the streets department waits until the weather warms up in March.

If it is rainy or if the ground is still freezing and thawing overnight, the patching material will not be effective, he said.

“When the weather is wet, it doesn’t stick. They wait until the weather breaks unless it’s terribly, terribly bad, then we’ll fill it in temporarily right away,” Pepe said.

The borough employees know where most of the new or large potholes are, but if there are some that go unfixed, residents can call the borough office to notify the staff, he said.

Harmony Mayor Cathy Rape said the streets department took advantage of the recent warm and sunny weather to fill some potholes, including a big one on Main Street.

Back-to-back cold winters have wreaked havoc with the roads, though not many residents have complained about specific potholes, Rape said.

Jason Dailey, director of public works for Cranberry Township, said his department is in “full response mode.”

Dailey said he has three crews of two people constantly driving around to find potholes, in addition to other public works employees taking complaints from local drivers.

It’s important to get out now while the weather is milder, Dailey said, because potholes will only get worse as the thaw continues.

“We’re in full pothole-repair mode,” he said. “That will get us through to spring when the next big thaw happens. If we don’t do something now the problem will just persist if it’s not addressed while we have the opportunity with milder wether.”

Eagle staff writers Will DeShong, Joe Genco and Jared Stonesifer contributed to this report.