Newport app lets you report potholes from your phone

By Alana Cerrone

acerrone@abc6.com

@Alana_Cerrone

Aaron Hawkins is no stranger to potholes.

"They’re pretty bad as usual, I see them everyday on my way to work…it’s basically a minefield.”

He knows to expect them this time of year, but he says what he doesn’t know is who to call to take care of them.

"If I was to make a report of something, I wouldn’t know who to call…I could call some authorities and I’d have to search for something…"

Now there’s no question. The City by the Sea launched an app called

‘Report It! Newport’ to let people immediately notify the right department of any non-emergency problems.

"This is a great way for us to have more boots on the ground and eyes on the ground -we have 94 miles of road so this helps us help the citizens of Newport."

Public Services Director Bill Riccio showed us exactly how the app works when we found a pothole on Anthony St.

"We’re gonna scroll down, take a photo of it…the crews will get to see an assessment of it at their desktop."

A pothole on Hunter Avenue was reported Thursday night. By Friday at noon, it was already filled in.

"How many times do we say ‘I don’t know who to call’ or “it’s too much of an effort to figure out who to call”…now there’s an easy way to make these reports."

"If I had an app to report potholes I’d probably do it pretty frequently, if it doesn’t take any time out of my day…"

The app is free on iPhones and Androids, and it’s not just for potholes. You can report other issues like graffiti, fallen tree branches, and snow plow requests.

Other cities are on board with the app, too. Taunton launched one 3 years ago and since then they’ve logged almost 900 reports.

© WLNE-TV 2016