Submitted photoThe Oregon Department of Transportation plans to start repairing these potholes Monday on a stretch of U.S. Highway 97 near Chemult.

A plague of potholes along U.S. Highway 97 in northern Klamath County has prompted the Oregon Department of Transportation to launch an unanticipated repair program.

Peter Murphy, regional spokesman for ODOT, said the potholes along a 17-mile stretch of highway south of Chemult have become so bad that the that the usual approach to wintertime patching will not suffice. He said the agency has persuaded the operators of an idled asphalt plant to fire up their equipment and produce a batch of “hot mix,” a form of asphalt not generally available in the winter.

An agricultural field burning machine will be brought in, Murphy said, to help dry out the potholes and improve the adhesion of the patches.

ODOT expects to start working Monday, and anticipates it taking a week to a week and a half. Flaggers are expected to direct motorists around the work site, and speed limits will be temporarily reduced in areas where crews are working.

Murphy said ODOT is likely to return to the area in the summer for a more complete repaving of the highway.