Schwarzenegger Gets The Hole Thing Wrong In LA Pothole, Turns Out It Was A Service Trench

“This location is not a pothole. It’s a service trench that relates to active, permitted work,” said the city of Los Angeles

by Sebastien Bell

April 13, 2023 at 12:00

by Sebastien Bell

No good deed goes unpunished, they say, and Arnold Schwarzenegger is learning that to his likely embarrassment. Following a video that he posted of himself filling a “pothole,” it turns out that he may have only caused trouble for city crews, instead of helping them.

That’s because, according to city officials, the disturbance in the road that Schwarzenegger filmed himself pouring cold fill into wasn’t actually a pothole. Instead, it was a service trench that was important for work being conducted there.

“This location is not a pothole,” a City of Los Angeles spokesperson told NBC. “It’s a service trench that relates to active, permitted work being performed at the location by SoCal Gas, who expects the work to be completed by the end of May.”

More: Arnold Schwarzenegger Fixes LA Street Pothole After Waiting 3 Weeks For Repairs

Now that SoCal Gas crews have to dig the hole out again, they may have to push that estimate back a little. Regardless, the city said that, as with all similar projects that impact its streets, the crews will be repairing the area once their work is done.

As can be seen in the video Schwarzenegger posted to Twitter and Facebook, the “pothole” he filled in was decidedly rectangular, with straight sides. In retrospect, that may have been the first hint that it wasn’t caused by natural erosion.

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In his social media post, Schwarzenegger, who was formerly the governor of California, wrote that he had been asking the city to fix the hole for weeks when he decided to step in. Although he was incorrect about the cause of this road disturbance, Los Angeles was afflicted by a large number of potholes this spring, due, in part, to late winter storms.

In a video, he claimed that “you have to do it yourself,” but the city said that its crews filled 17,549 potholes between December 30 and April 6. It also noted that it expects to finish fixing all 19,692 repair requests it has received by the end of April. Although Schwarzenegger’s heart was in the right place, it turns out that he doesn’t have to do everything himself.

Today, after the whole neighborhood has been upset about this giant pothole that’s been screwing up cars and bicycles for weeks, I went out with my team and fixed it. I always say, let’s not complain, let’s do something about it. Here you go. pic.twitter.com/aslhkUShvT

— Arnold (@Schwarzenegger) April 11, 2023