(KRON) — Mayor Sheng Thao kicked off Oakland’s “Spring Clean” city initiative Monday with an event focused on repairing roads hard hit by winter storms.

City crews repaired an estimated 2,700 potholes since March 1, city officials said. The “pothole blitz” will continue into May, and residents are encouraged to continue reporting potholes in their neighborhoods by contacting OAK311.

Extreme weather conditions made it difficult for the city to conduct routine maintenance over the winter months and caused more extensive damage than Oakland normally sees.

“I am so excited that the city is coming together for our One Oakland Spring Clean. We’re starting with a top concern of so many of our residents — fixing our roads,” said Mayor Thao. “Dry, warm spring weather means we can finally tackle the backlog of pothole fixes to give all Oaklanders safer and smoother roads. Our Department of Transportation workers have made progress addressing the backlog.”

The blitz dedicates bolstered maintenance crews to focus on pothole patches and similar street repairs to address the most impactful and damaging potholes. Wet weather in February and March slowed the launch of the blitz because rainy conditions make pothole patching ineffective.

“I am grateful that OakDOT is responding to the cries of our communities to repair our roads in the wake of massive storm damage. Oaklanders deserve safe roads,” said District 4 Councilmember Janani Ramachandran.

“Oakland’s Department of Transportation is committed to fixing our roads after a long, hard and wet winter. Our Pothole Blitz is focused on clearing the backlog of 311 road repair requests and will help all our communities, particularly those Communities of Concern where aging infrastructure is more susceptible to storm damage.” said OakDOT Director Fred Kelley.

Pothole repairs will provide short-term relief while OakDOT continues to deliver long-term solutions by fully paving badly damaged city streets, city officials said.