Now that spring has sprung, it’s easy to forget the harsh winter and move on to enjoy spring, right? Well not so fast, say town officials. Next up: spring pothole season.

“It was a very demanding winter with the multiple storms on multiple weekends,” said First Selectman Michael Freda.

For town road crews, potholes can be a yearlong problem but are especially noticeable in the spring. Weather is a significant contributor to the severity of the pothole problem.

Potholes appear when the pavement cracks; moisture builds up in the crack and then freezes and thaws. Due to the severity of the winter this year, the pavement has cracked at an accelerated pace. It’s a problem that the town, unfortunately, can’t avoid.

With more frequent temperature changes and storms come more potholes occurring on roads that are older and more frequently traveled.

Freda said that the town is “out there now with our public works pothole crew, going out an a proactive basis to fill the potholes.”

“The Department of Public Works Field Operations Division has already been actively receiving requests for roadway and potholes repairs,” said North Haven Public Works Director Lynn Sadosky, noting that the latest requests are coming from areas including Sentinel Hill, Flinklock Road, and Sackett Point Road at Universal Drive.

What starts as a complaint from a motorist ends up part of an overall assessment of a road’s condition.

“We repair all potholes as soon as they are reported to us, and our field operations supervisor [Victor Palma] and town engineer [Jonathan Bodwell) have begun assessments of town roadway conditions for a development of a more permanent solution and whether to mill/pave versus a repair,” Sadosky said. “Pothole repairs have numbered in the dozens while roadway assessments have just started due to the snow finally melting.”

Sadosky said that her department “has to weigh carefully options for milling and paving, due to the cost of $200,000 a mile.”

Freda agreed with Sadosky and said the short-term solution is filling the potholes, but said, “Long term, I’m trying to figure out a way to do a more significant road paving plan. We did this plan three years ago, but it did cost $200,000 a mile to mill and pave a road.”

With just the 35 to 40 miles that Freda is aware needs paving, “It can be a very expensive, in the ballpark of $7- to $8 million, which is not in the budget.”

Freda noted that road projects are just one of the projects the town is undertaking.

“I’m very cognizant that we have a middle school that we are building, and I’m trying to determine what the right timing is on this to ensure that we have solid infrastructure in the town, including roads,” he said.

Freda said there was about “half a million dollars in the budget this year to pave roads, but that’s only 2 ½ miles. We couldn’t build $8 million into this budget, and that’s where bonding becomes an alternative.”

North Haven isn’t alone when it comes to pothole issues.

Freda said he recently attended a state and federal government meeting with “22 other mayors and chief elected officials where everyone agreed that this was the worst pothole season in decades,” due to back to back weekend winter storms.