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Public works director: salt delayed, crews repairing 40–60 potholes a day; council presses for enforcement of repaving standards
Summary
Interim DPW Director Hector Weah (Weir) told council that a 1,600-ton salt order remains undelivered due to statewide supply constraints, crews are repairing 40–60 potholes per day after two major snowstorms, and the city enforces a moratorium that requires curb-to-curb repaving within five years of utility cuts; council members pressed for inspection and enforcement on developer cuts to new repaving.
Interim Department of Public Works Director Hector Weah (Weir) briefed the Trenton City Council on March 3 about winter operations, salt supply and pothole response.
Weah told council the city’s entire salt stock was depleted after two back-to-back snowstorms and that an outstanding 1,600-ton order has not yet been delivered; the vendor told DPW deliveries are being delayed statewide until ice on the Delaware thaws. While praising crews for their response, council members pushed the administration for details on turnaround times, an inventory of temporary versus permanent patches and how the city holds developers and utility companies accountable for repaving.
Weah said crews are currently fixing roughly 40–60 potholes per day and that short-term "cool patches" are being used now with permanent repairs scheduled after the ground dries and seasonal paving resumes. He described a moratorium-list approach that flags streets for one-year, two-year and three-year moratoria and said the city requires curb-to-curb repaving within five years of cuts from utility or construction activity; where repaving is substandard the city’s inspectors can require contractors to redo work or withhold approvals.
Council members requested an updated list of streets slated for paving and a public-facing method to report potholes; the director gave a public reporting number ((609) 989-3200) and agreed to email an updated paving schedule to council.
What happens next: DPW will continue daily pothole operations, provide a written paving/patch inventory to council, and follow up on enforcement actions where developers or utilities do not meet repaving standards.
Sources: Interim DPW Director statements at council meeting March 3, 2026; council questions and director responses recorded in the docket.
