Word on the street is that the first day of spring is officially a few weeks away.

The operative word being "officially."

You loyal readers with spring blooms on your minds are probably grumbling over your morning coffee, as you read this. After all, forecasters say we're supposed to be sitting in a slick pile of fresh snow now, and the temperatures are nowhere close to what one associates with early spring.

Fear not. There is one definite sign that spring is coming. You've felt them already.

Potholes. Potholes, and lots of 'em.

Those road pockmarks appear around springtime because the pavement has undergone several freezing and thawing processes. As a result, the stressed pavement breaks up.

The Kennebec Commuter's old friend, Augusta public works director John Charest, calls the potholes "an annual event everywhere in Maine. You just can't stop them."

Charest said in Augusta, the road with the most potholes is Bangor Street.

"That right-hand lane is just terrible," Charest said.

Crew workers are able to put a "cold patch" in the potholes, but the minute there's any precipitation, Charest said, the patch gets washed out -- meaning that those patches are probably long gone by now.

Potholes around our fair capital city are usually patched up for good in mid-May.

Driving over potholes invites a world of trouble for your vehicle. Not only can the impact of hitting the craters ruin your alignment, but it can blow out a tire or destroy your vehicles struts or shocks.

The Kennebec Commuter's other old friend, mechanic extraordinaire Dave Palmer, said if you have to drive down a pothole-ridden road, "go around (potholes) or slow down.

"The havoc played on the car is like a time bomb," Palmer said. "The constant pounding of the car hurts it, and over time, it can take something weakened and just destroy it."

Have a traffic tip, scoop or rant? Tell me about it. Drop me a line at mmalloy@centralmaine.com, or call 623-3811 Ext. 431.