Potholes plaguing San Francisco drivers

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Rain and roads do not mix. San Francisco drivers are finding that out in various parts of the city, as they drive over potholes that set your teeth on edge and make your car's suspension groan in protest. Drivers we talked to are not happy about it.

In the air you would call this turbulence. On the ground, it's just one more noisy and potentially damaging affliction your car doesn't need. This is what drivers are 4th and Folsom in San Francisco are telling us.

"The last two days I've been going over, it's horrendous."

"It's kind of like moguls on the ski lift"

"It's a ridiculous pothole, it's out of pocket. It needs to be fixed as soon as possible."

It's not just one pothole. At 4th and Folsom is a series of undulating potholes, make your suspension feel like it's gone 12 rounds for the heavyweight championship.

Julie Craig works in a nearby building. She saw my tweet about the problem and came out to describe her encounter with the potholes.

"Actually, thankfully, the car in front of me slowed down to about two miles an hour, and I thought, 'why are you going so slow?' and then I realized why when we were just going up and down," she said.

"I think it's fair to say people call to complain about potholes. People don't like potholes, we understand that," said Rachel Gordon of the San Francisco Department of Public Works.

She says this is a problem that crops up whenever we have a really wet winter, and in the usual places -- 19th avenue, Geary Boulevard, Van Ness. Water seeps into the road surface and the weight of cars and trucks repeatedly driving over causes the dips and and rises.

"In a typical dry month, we might fill 350 potholes in San Francisco. Right now, in the month of February, we're looking at 1,800 potholes were filled," she said.