Cincinnati is looking for fresh ideas for dealing with potholes. The city and Flywheel Social Enterprise Hub are looking to crowdsource solutions by offering a cash prize along with business coaching on proposals.
Council member Evan Nolan says the number of potholes has been climbing, and the reasons range from more extreme weather to better reporting.
“In 2023, 4,000 potholes were reported. And the city filled just over 12,000. In 2024, 4,500 potholes were reported. Just over 10,000 were filled,” he says. “But this past year, in 2025, nearly 9,000 potholes were reported, and the city filled almost 43,000 potholes.”
Nolan says it’s an economic problem, because potholes can damage cars, and cause people to miss work. He says filling the holes and repaving streets is expensive for the city too.
Flywheel Executive Director Donna Zaring says the "Pave the Way" project will tackle the social and economic problem.
“We want your ideas, and we want your solutions,” she says.
Zaring says there are three different solution categories.
“We’re looking for scientific solutions. We’re looking for data solutions, and we’re looking for communication solutions,” she says. That means they’re looking for new ways to repair or prevent, to track, and to show the public where in the process the repair is.
“We have coaches that will volunteer along the entire process as you’re going through Hack Week.”
Hack Week is where the ideas will be fleshed out. That starts Sept. 8. The top five proposals move on to the end, where they'll make pitches to an audience.
Zaring says applications are open until Aug. 24.
The winning proposal will get $5,000 to use toward making it a reality.
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