Poorly patched pothole causes more problems in Detroit

DETROIT - Detroit's pothole problems are no joke. For most of Michigan, for that matter, when a pothole needs patching, you're relieved to see a crew. Unless you're on Detroit's east side at East Warren and Burns.

You can't miss it, Scemja Thompson said, and now she's got one question. Who is responsible?

"Why didn't they think to smooth it out?" Thompson said.

Drivers were having to swerve to avoid it. The big pile of asphalt was just dumped in the middle of the street and left to harden.

Drivers and neighbors residents say not only is it an accident waiting to happen but it could also cause major damage to the vehicle

"People got to swerve out the way that's gonna cause an accident," Curtis Green, who lives nearby, said.

Not only did upset residents and motorist contact FOX 2 about the work, they also contacted the City of Detroit via social media to voice their complaints. However, the city says it's not their fault.

"It was a DTE crew," Curtrise Garnde with DWSD said. "However, we are going to make the repairs. We are grateful that someone took the time to post it on Facebook cause I don't know if we would have ever found out about it."

DTE officials tell Fox 2 "our crew went out to the intersection to repair a main to deliver safe and reliable service to our customers. We patched the hole. When the city informed us that there was an issue with the patching, we immediately sent a crew out to make the repairs. The city had already repaired the problem. We'll continue to monitor the situation."

But city officials say information, both good and bad, from residents keeps neighborhood safe and strong

"Thanks to Facebook we were able to get out here and do a permanent fix so the street roles very well and it's very smooth on terms of structure," Garnde said.