With its ups and downs, this winter is pothole season.

"We get freezing followed by thawing, we get ice lenses under the pavement which thaw and traffic breaks that down and creates potholes," said Ingham County Road Commission Managing Director Bill Conklin.

The road commission mixes its own cold patch, but it's little more than a quick fix.

"Some of this stuff will stay in the pothole. Some of it won't because of the way the pothole is shaped. It'll just come right out with traffic," said Gregory Blackburn, equipment operator.

"Even the best cold patch is not as good as a properly constructed hot asphalt reconstruction of the pothole," said Conklin.

Cold patches last anywhere from a week to a month.

"Depending on if we have more freezing and thawing, if the guys weren't able to get the hole cleaned out and dried out," said Conklin.

"On a good day like today, we're trying to fix everything we can find. If it's rainy out we tend to only fill the bigger potholes because the material is less likely to stay in the small potholes if wet," said Blackburn.

Driving over them is frustrating, but crews say they do their best.

"If you call in a pothole to the county road commission they will get someone out fixing it as quickly as they can," said Blackburn.

"A lot of the roads our guys are out patching on are scheduled for federal aid resurfacing. Our federal aid resurfacing is designed to catch those roads in poor condition before they need a total reconstruction," said Conklin.

Willoughby Road between Cedar and Washington is one of those stretches scheduled for federal aid resurfacing. That project will take place during the summer months this year.

The county's other big federal aid projects include the stretch of Haslett Road between Park Lake and Marsh and the Park Lake - Burcham intersection, where it will be building a roundabout.