Potholes on urban expressways are a critical pavement maintenance problem because they threaten driving safety, generate vehicle-damage claims, and require repeated emergency repairs. However, network-level evidence integrating climate, traffic, maintenance execution, and detection practice remains limited. This study addressed this gap through a stage-1 empirical assessment of pothole occurrence and pavement maintenance response on the Seoul urban expressway network. The novelty lies in integrating six years of operational data, including pothole repair records, compensation cases, monthly rainfall, monthly average temperature, route-level traffic volume, maintenance budget and execution records, detection pathways, and repeated pothole locations. A total of 28,821 pothole repairs were recorded between 2020 and 2025, with Olympic-daero (11,330 cases), Dongbu Trunk Road (6,594 cases), and Gangbyeonbuk-ro (5,067 cases) accounting for approximately 79.8% of the total. The compensation burden was also concentrated, with 158 cases and a total payout of KRW 48,592,000. Pothole occurrence showed a clear dual-season pattern, with high counts during the thawing period and a stronger summer peak, increasing from 1950, 3100, and 3773 cases in June, July, and August when rainfall rose from 174.60 mm to 333.68 mm and 352.15 mm, respectively. Traffic remained consistently high (48,576–96,700 vehicles/day) but varied by only approximately 5.1% annually, indicating that climate governed outbreak timing, while traffic acted mainly as a chronic aggravating factor. Artificial intelligence (AI)-based Camera Detection System (CDS) detection contributed to 54.3% and 57.2% of external detections in 2024 and 2025, respectively, while repeated repairs accounted for 3,957 cases across 783 locations (13.7% of total repairs). These findings support seasonal preventive maintenance, route-based prioritization, AI-assisted detection, and hotspot-focused management.

ABSTRACT
1. Introductuon
2. Materials and Methods
    2.1. Study Network
    2.2. Conceptual Framework of Pothole Occurrence
    2.3. Data Sources
    2.4. Maintenance Classification
    2.5. Data Processing and Analysis
3. Results and Discussion
    3.1. Route-Level Pothole Burden and CompensationConsequences
    3.2. Seasonal Climate Effects on Pothole Occurrence
    3.3. Traffic Loading and Standardized Trend Analysis
    3.4. Pavement Maintenance Budget and ExecutionPatterns
    3.5. Integrated Discussion and MaintenanceImplications
    3.6. Practical Implications for Preventive PotholeManagement
4. Conclusions
REFERENCES

• Ryu Dong Gul(중앙대학교 일반대학원 ICT안전학과 석사과정) | 류동걸
• Kim Hwang(중앙대학교 경영경제대학 경영학부 교수) | 김황
• Lee Sang Yum(인덕대학교 공과대학 토목공학과 교수) | 이상염 Corresponding author