Where potholes rule: Ranking Philly’s most plagued neighborhoods

Philadelphians will argue over anything — the best cheesesteak, the real boundaries of their neighborhoods, the legality of saving parking spots with traffic cones. But if there’s one thing this city can unite against, it’s the potholes.

The tire-popping, axle-crunching, trenchlike potholes that turn daily commutes into obstacle courses.

Some locals have had enough. At FDR Park, skateboarders filled in craters themselves. Across the city, residents have shoved cones, tires — even trash cans — into the holes just to warn other drivers. In at least one case, a private contractor paved over cones left in the street — and city crews later returned to fix the work.

“Of course, the cones and tires eventually get smashed into the hole by cars,” said Celeste Hardester, a Roxborough resident.

From May 9, 2024, to May 9, 2025, Philadelphians filed nearly 6,000 pothole reports to Philly311, the city’s service system. On average, it took the city 15 days to respond — that is, to mark the request as “closed,” which doesn’t always mean the repair was done well or at all.

The city says it resolved 4,041 of those requests. That leaves nearly one in three reported potholes still open, according to The Inquirer’s analysis.

Nearly one in 10 drivers nationwide suffers vehicle damage from potholes each year — and in Philly, it’s not uncommon to blow a tire thanks to crumbling roads. It’s costly, too: AAA estimates the average pothole-related repair runs about $600.

The Inquirer analyzed one year of 311 data to map the worst-hit neighborhoods, highlight the most infuriatingly persistent potholes, and track just how quickly the city fills the gaps.

Note: Some neighborhoods have residents who report 311 complaints at a much higher volume than others, which can lead to more pothole reports. This analysis uses self-reported data from Philadelphians.

No surprise here: Center City led the pack with 358 citizen pothole reports. Despite its high volume, the neighborhood saw relatively fast repair times — nine days, on average. But more than 100 of those reports are still open.

Kensington and North Philadelphia East followed closely, with 328 and 264 reports, respectively.

Graduate Hospital resident Morgan Rodriguez said the “sinkhole-like” crater on 23rd Street near her home has been there for weeks.

“And it keeps getting deeper,” said Rodriguez, a chairperson of the South of South Neighborhood Association. “Plus, it’s on a busy bus route. We always say it feels like we’re off-roading.”

The Philadelphia neighborhoods that experience the slowest pothole response times are also the ones with some of the lowest-income households in the city, those with a median income lower than $50,000. The city has not acknowledged a difference in response times based on neighborhood demographics, and did not respond to questions about the disparity by the time of publication.

Olney is in the middle of the pack for pothole reports — 97 last year — but it’s the one neighborhood where the city takes the longest to respond. It took 36 days to patch potholes in this North Philadelphia neighborhood, the slowest response time in the city.

The Frankford section of Philadelphia wasn’t far behind with a response time of 34 days, followed by the Eastwick and Mantua neighborhoods, with a 33- and 32-day wait time, respectively. Frankford and Mantua are neighborhoods with the lowest-income households in the city, with Frankford households taking in $37,100 per year and Mantua households pulling in $26,500.

In Kensington, residents say it’s not just the potholes, it’s the aftermath of other city work. When gas line construction tore up Josh Graff’s block in 2022, it left behind what he described as an “impassable pit” that lingered for months.

“I can’t imagine a giant disruption like that existing for very long downtown,” said Graff, a board member of the East Kensington Neighbors Association. “It tends to be neighborhoods on the periphery that deal with these issues the longest.”

According to 311 data, potholes in Graff’s neighborhood — East Kensington — take 24 days to fix on average.

This year’s champion of driver misery? A tire-munching crater at Green Lane and Silverwood Street in Manayunk — a pit so bad, it was reported to 311 an astounding 38 times.

“Someone put a tire in it for a while,” said Hardester. “Then the tire got rolled over to the curb, and soon it was back and forth to the pothole before disappearing — later a traffic cone was put in its place.”

The road damage at Green Lane and Silverwood Street remains unrepaired.

Runner-up: a pothole outside the Fishtown Acme parking garage at Germantown Avenue and Second Street. That one racked up 22 complaints before finally getting filled.

But filled doesn’t always mean fixed.

I’ve seen patches done, but some never really seem to be fixed”

Hardester, who also serves as zoning committee cochair for the Central Roxborough Civic Association, said the potholes along Green Lane are so persistent that many neighbors have given up on reporting them.

“The wheel-axle-swallowing holes on Green Lane existed for quite a long time,” she said. “I think the reputation of the public reporting to 311 is that it accomplishes nothing, so no one bothers. I know that is not exactly correct, and 311 eventually responds, but it does take a lot of follow-through to get action.”

Philadelphia’s roads are only getting worse, according to the city’s Managing Director’s Office, which blames aging infrastructure for an “influx of roadway defects, including potholes.”

But not every pothole is the Streets Department’s problem. Philly311, the Streets Department, and various agencies — city, state, and federal — work together to figure out who’s on the hook for each repair.

“Many streets in Philadelphia are classified as state highways, which are maintained by PennDot,” said Sharon Gallagher of the Managing Director’s Office. “Some streets include active and non-active railroad tracks, which are maintained by SEPTA.”

For city-owned roads, or when damage is caused by the water department or PGW, it’s up to the Streets Department to make the fix. If the road is torn up by a utility company, that company is supposed to repair the damage.

When it is the city’s job, here’s how they fill potholes:

Some potholes need full excavation before repairs can even begin.

Once someone submits a pothole report through Philly311, a service request is sent to the Streets Department for inspection. But not every complaint is officially classified as a pothole — and some get kicked back for additional review or reassignment.

The city “strives to have repairs done within three days” once a pothole is identified, Gallagher said. The average time it took from complaint to completion in the last year? 15 days.

Philly311 has multiple ways to report nonemergency issues like potholes, abandoned cars, and illegal trash dumping.

Include a photo, an exact address or intersection, and details about the damage.

Service requests can be tracked online or in the mobile app using the service request number issued at the time of submission.

If the damage is on a state road, report it to PennDot at 1-800-FIX-ROAD or customercare.penndot.pa.gov.

This story was updated to clarify details about a pothole repair mentioned in an earlier version.