ODESSA - Timothy Munoz could not speak to NewsWest 9 in person because he's so fed up with the potholes in Odessa that he already packed up and moved.
"I bought the wheels, I put on new tires and everything," Munoz said. "I told my wife I said, 'we're done, we're out of here. We're out of Odessa."
Munoz says this is the second time this year he had to buy new tires and rims and he's blaming it on all the potholes scattered on the roads.
"I'm scared to even drive in Odessa because it's so bad, because it is every turn you make, it's a pothole. Pothole, pothole, pothole. It's just ridiculous," Munoz said.
It seems like every time a cold front moves into the Basin and the ice thaws, more potholes appear. The recent weather we've seen is the perfect recipe for disaster--water gets into the cracks and freezes, pushing the asphalt up creating potholes. The Texas Department of Transportation says they have people working 12 hours shifts to make sure the roads are intact but they still get a lot of phone calls.
"Unless it's a state highway or a state system road, we can't help them. People need to think about if it's on a city road or a state road or if it's on a county road," TXDOT Spokesperson, Gene Powell, said.
Munoz says he paid nearly $1,500 to get his wheels fixed this time around, not to mention he also had to have his vehicle towed. However, TxDOT says that's something out of their hands.
"As a rule, we're not going to pay for bent rims. I hit a pothole, I pay for my own rim, I pay for my own tire," Powell said. "Yeah, road hazards happen."
