A quick measure of success comes from the crews working to slap asphalt into potholes across O'ahu within a week of the problems being reported, he said. Crews filled 6,300 potholes last month compared to 4,900 in February of last year, Hannemann said.

Makakilo resident Eddie Aton is glad to hear Hannemann talking about taking better care of the roads. He said the wear and tear of rough roads costs him and other taxpayers money.

Aton, who commutes daily to Honolulu, said repairing potholes and fixing the roads should be a big priority. He said he took his car to a repair shop after it began wobbling and making strange sounds.

"They told me that my car was damaged by the constant pounding from the road conditions," said Aton, noting that he's not a reckless driver. "They diagnosed that my front rims were bent and it affected my tires."

City construction inspector Teodorico Batangan, left, and survey team member Aurelio Cristobel yesterday checked plans to resurface Pi'ikoi Street at the intersection of Kina'u, near where surveyors were working. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

In outlining a four-point fix-up plan for O'ahu roadways, Hannemann provided specifics of a broader plan he announced last month in his State of the City address.

"We know that the public wants this done," he said.

Besides aggressively filling potholes, the plan calls for:

• "First aid," which covers roads or patches of roads with a 3/4-inch to 1-inch coat of asphalt, a method that produces a better road surface than pothole patching but isn't as expensive or involved as rebuilding the road.

• A streamlined plan for local rehabilitation of side streets that will get them fixed faster starting this summer.

• Major rehabilitation/reconstruction of heavily used roads.

The plan calls for spending $1 million on the short-term fixes of patching potholes and first-aid coating. It also calls for nearly $70 million financed in the construction budget for the more extensive work, including $8 million for side streets.

Laverne Higa, city director of the Department of Facility Maintenance, said providing an inch-thick patch coat has proven more effective in some areas than others. "It can last a few years; it can last a few months," she said.

And she warned it won't always be pretty: "You may see a checkerboard effect."

But the first-aid can vastly improve the road, she said.

Since January, the city already has tried the method on Lunalilo Home Road; Moanalua Road between Pali Momi Street and Ka'ahumanu Avenue; Paleka Street in Kane'ohe; Hamakua Drive in Kailua; Ahua and Mapunapuna streets; and Makuahine Street in Kalihi.

Major reconstruction will focus on the most heavily used roadways, such as that under way on Pi'ikoi Street between King Street and the H-1 Freeway, said Wayne Hashiro, city acting director of Department of Design and Construction.

Work is planned in Pearl City/'Aiea, Makakilo, Waialua, Pupukea and Waipahu.

Department of Design and Construction construction manager Alfred Tanaka said city officials came up with a way to rebuild side streets more quickly and will begin using the new "localized rehabilitation" plan this summer on streets in Waimalu and Waipahu.

A streamlined contracting plan speeds up processing time for bidders and the city and lowers design and management costs, Tanaka said.

Kailua resident Edwin Sasaki also hopes for more city and state road improvements. Now retired, he is filing a claim with the state because of a close encounter with a deep pothole last month on Pali Highway.

Last month, Sasaki said he was Kailua-bound past the runaway truck ramp but before Castle Junction when — "boom" — he hit a pothole in his new Lexus. "I had a blowout and the rim was bent," he said.

"I think the conditions of our roads are terrible," Sasaki said. "Somebody should do something about it."

Higa, with the Department of Facility Maintenance, said the city has about 3,400 lane miles of road and estimates about 645 of those lane miles need major work. The fixes outlined by Hannemann would hit about 150 lane miles in the first two years.

"We're playing catch-up," Hannemann said, because some of the most expensive and disruptive road work has been postponed for years.

Hannemann thanked members of the state House of Representatives for proposing to include $4 million for Honolulu road repairs in their version of the state budget, and said he hoped the Senate and governor would support the request.