It is not because of a shortage of asphalt that potholes exist. It is a shortage of attention and money to fill said potholes.
I'm not a road engineer, but it takes more conditioning of the road around the hole to patch (due to thermal events and traffic speed - especially in the US NE for example). A poorly filled pothole doesn't remain filled very long if done poorly, but even if done well it may only last until the next winter. This then becomes the financial debate of patch vs replacement of road sections.
Speaking as a professional paver, this is absolutely the correct answer.
There used to be a pothole in front of my house that always came back. It was at a low spot and sent waves of salty runoff into my yard in the winter every time someone drove through it.
During Covid I while I was working from home, I watched as some workers rolled up in a pickup truck, hopped out of the bed with two 5-gallon buckets of cold patch, and just dumped it into the puddle that was the pothole, loosely spread it around with a rake, hopped back in the truck and left. All within like 2 minutes. A few days later. Someone must have come by to actually top it off and tamp it down, but within days if not hours my yard and the sidewalk were full of little black pebble that had been splashed out.
And to add to this, you also have to shut down said road for a time to repair the pothole, which could be costly (traffic-wise) in some areas at certain times.
Audhd spotted
The real question is: why are we spending resources creating speed bumps when pot holes accomplish the same thing?
It's not so much about the asphalt as it is about the humans being paid to put the asphalt down. There are lots of potholes to be fixed and not as many speed bumps that need to be made, so the speed bumps get finished before the potholes do.
Speed bumps save lives, potholes save things to complain about for votes and money at election and budget time.
There is enough to fill pot holes. The problem is sending out a team takes time and money. Cities tend to fix roads but not faster than they break down.
Potholes are just inverted speed bumps.
Most people don't know this, but speed bumps are actually hollow. They use a balloon to make the shape, then pour a thin layer of asphalt over it for aesthetic reasons. This saves money on asphalt, which is popular with city councils, so the asphalt is typically saved for more speed bumps rather than filling potholes.
When pot holes were regularly filed, workers would pour gas on the tar to make sure they could eat and have a job next week.
Classic time theft/tar theft combo.
Asphalt has natural antigravity properties and tends to rise.
Because that's where the political will is.
