Pothole on Route 20 damages more than a dozen cars

WORCESTER, Mass. — Potholes are causing a big mess on a major Massachusetts highway.

More than a dozen people say they hit a huge pothole on Route 20 Tuesday night, causing serious damage to their tires.

Gianna Batista was driving home Tuesday night when she heard a loud thump. Her Subaru Impreza drove right over a massive pothole on Rt. 20, damaging her front left tire.

"The low tire pressure came on in my car and I realized I had to pull off, so I pulled off into the plaza," said Batista.

The hole has since been patched up, but she was one of 14 people she counted who had to pull over.

"Some of them had one tired blown out, some of them had two tires blown out," said Batista.

She was able to get to work on a spare tire Wednesday morning, but some of the other drivers weren't so lucky.

Steve Stockwell was another driver who hit the pothole and blew out both of his front tires. His car is now in the shop and he needs a rental to get to work.

"I'm two tires flat, pulled into the parking lot, and within the next hour there were 12-13 more cars sitting with me," said Stockwell.

RELATED: Pothole damage costs drivers $3B a year, AAA says

Boston 25 News reached out to MassDOT about the pothole. They told us:

"Yesterday evening, MassDOT staff were informed of a pothole at this location and dispatched maintenance crews who responded and repaired the roadway surface. Crews will continue to monitor this location and respond as necessary."

According to state law, MassDOT will only reimburse drivers if there was injury or if the damage happened in an active construction zone.

Since that wasn't the case, both Stockwell and Batista, and the other 13 drivers, will have to foot their own bills.

Stockwell says there is one upside to all of this.

"I got 13 new friends because we were all standing around commiserating together last night," said Stockwell.

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