TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Potholes and bumpy streets are issues that impact everyone using roads in Tampa Bay and can greatly affect people’s daily lives.

Tampa has been under-resourced for a long time when it comes to resurfacing the roads, officials said. On Tuesday, they provided an update about the “Fix-It-Fast” program, which they said is helping to provide solutions. 

Tampa is no stranger to dangerous potholes, and the program created back in September 2021 has, to date, filled nearly 18,000 potholes across the city.

“Potholes are a lot like relationships, they can be pretty rough sometimes. In the city of Tampa, we are doing everything we can to smooth out that roughness,” Mayor Jane Castor said.

She said they are trying to make advancements as quickly as they can, but fixing the potholes is just a band-aid, and the real solution is repaving the streets.

“That’s one of the reasons we implemented two paving crews in the city of Tampa, we have all of the equipment and team members, and they can pave our roadways in most instances in half the time at half the price,” she said.

Resurfacing the city’s roadways is something city officials said has been under-resourced for years, and they are continuing to build on the last several years of budget increases to fix the roads.

“We have even some rollovers from previous years. This fiscal year, we have spent about $10 million of the $14 million allotted to us. So, some of that is carry over, some of that is reallocated from unspent funds elsewhere within the city budget. So, we will have a healthy budget next year of $41 million,” Interim Mobility Director Brandon Campbell said.

To help keep the roads as safe as possible, the city has also fixed 2,000 downed street signs, like stop signs and wrong-way signs.

The city said this program is designed to fill in reported potholes within 72 hours of being reported. So, if there is one in your area that you would like to report, click here.